Wavering Hearts
by Clogallie
Summary: SoNami — AU. Because she was your typical shy introvert, and he had built a wall around his heart. There were a million reasons to say no, and only one to say yes. Naminé really didn't know what she was getting herself into when she stumbled into the popular Sora's life.
1. Chapter One

**Wavering Hearts**

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**Chapter ONE**

Invisible. That was Naminé Blanc and how she planned to stay for the rest of her high school career.

She didn't mind the stigmas attached to her status: loner, freak, etcetera. She had grown used to the insults people threw her way (or muttered behind her back when they thought she wasn't listening). It was only a matter of conditioning—once they'd said it enough times and realized they weren't getting a response out of her, they settled with leaving her alone. Which suited Naminé. She just wanted to get through high school peacefully so she could finally escape this wretched, judgmental small town and live real life.

Shuffling her feet as she walked down the halls, she made sure to keep her eyes staring at the ground. It was the key technique to ensure her anonymity—people didn't see her face and tended to overlook her. Finally arriving at her media studies classroom, she entered and quickly assumed her seat at the back of the classroom. She sat in an inconspicuous area that still allowed her to concentrate on the lesson.

The only reason she'd chosen media studies as her elective was because her parents had not passed on the course selection form to her before school started and she was forced to choose between this and computer science. She was completely clueless when it came to technology. Knowing she'd fail computer science and it would look bad on her transcript, she decided on media studies. It was a new course, so there were only ten people other than her who had signed up for the class.

"Class, please be seated." The teacher was an unexpectedly young male professor who went the name Mr. Strife. He was a military veteran, so it puzzled some as to how he came to teach media studies in a nameless small school in the middle of nowhere. However, he did a good job teaching and he kept his class relatively interesting.

"Today, we will be learning about the various types of mass communication mediums made available to us in the recent decades…" Mr. Strife's voice trailed off in Naminé's mind. It was evidently another lecture-styled lesson. Not that the flaxen-haired girl was complaining. However, her previous two classes had been lectures as well, and it was taxing on the teenage brain. Her hand began absentmindedly doodling on her notebook while attempting to intake the information Mr. Strife was throwing out—

"Hey! Is this media studies?"

The cheery voice combined with a loud door slam unexpectedly woke Naminé from her stupor. Turning towards the front door of the classroom, she stared at a familiar brown-haired teen. He walked in the classroom and approached Mr. Strife with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Hikaru. I was told you would be transferring to our class today."

"Yup. Sorry for the interruption."

"It's alright. Take a seat next to Miss Blanc. Miss Blanc, please raise your hand."

Anxiously, Naminé raised her hand. She'd recognized who this Mr. Hikaru was after Mr. Strife had mentioned his last name. Of course, who in the school didn't know Sora Hikaru? He was, after all, one of the more popular boys in Pallad High. Not only was the senior boy friendly to everyone with his sunny personality, he was also incredibly good looking. That Naminé had to admit. His chocolate brown hair was always sticking out at the most random directions in a way that only someone like him could pull off. His skin was a smooth tanned hue, proof of his status as a native islander. He had a decent build as a result of playing soccer, no bulging biceps but lean muscles and—from what she'd heard while changing in the lockers—definite, firm abs. What was most eye-catching about him was, no pun intended, his eyes. They were the clearest and deepest blues that Naminé had ever seen, the type that drew you in and could either hypnotize you or drown you.

"Hey." Sora Hikaru smiled disarmingly as he slipped into the seat next to Naminé. Though he seemed harmless enough, Naminé knew his type of person was a threat to her invisible status.

However, to not seem rude, Naminé gave a polite smile and nod. Sora Hikaru then turned towards the front of the room and Mr. Strife resumed his lesson.

Unexpectedly, this Sora Hikaru became a large distraction during class. Though he didn't purposely antagonize her, his many little quirks got on Naminé's nerves. Like his tendency to tap his pencil on the table surface while waiting for Mr. Strife to toss out new information, or the way he'd lean back and tilt his chair in a precarious position, as if wanting to fall. One time Naminé actually thought he was gonna fall, she barely managed to suppress her squeak.

He turned towards her way and grinned. "Chill, I'm fine. I won't actually fall."

Naminé frowned and turned to face the whiteboard. "But you worry other people."

This seemed to pique Sora's interest. He placed his left arm on the desk and leaned over towards Naminé. "Oh? Are you speaking about yourself?"

The blonde tried to ignore him but his persistent grin was frustrating. "I'm sure anyone seeing you do that would think so."

Sora laughed and proceeded to lean back and tilt his chair once more, as if to purposely annoy her. She resisted the urge to snap another snarky comment at him and instead pleaded silently that the boy would fall and get what he deserved.

To her utmost horror, the boy did fall in the next five minutes.

"Oh my goodness," Naminé gasped, rushing out of her seat and kneeling down to check the boy's wellbeing. "Sora, are you alright?"

Sora was wincing and clutching his head, though there didn't seem to be any serious injuries. "Yeah. Hey, you know my name?"

The blonde girl resisted the urge to facepalm. He was hurt but all he could think about was how she knew his name?

"Are you hurt?" she asked, ignoring his question. She felt slightly guilty since she'd somewhat caused his accident, or so the conscientious girl thought. The boy seemed fine, besides being slightly shocked, though he kept caressing the back of his head.

"Is everything alright?" Mr. Strife asked, approaching the duo on the ground. "Mr. Hikaru, are you hurt? Do you need to go to the nurse?"

Sora got up and stumbled a little, resting his hand on Naminé's shoulder. "No, I'm fine. Just lost balance." He propped his chair in upright position and slipped back into his seat. "Sorry for the interruption."

"Don't lean your chair; it's dangerous," Mr. Strife warned as he returned to the front of the classroom. Sora nodded and slipped his hand off of Naminé's shoulder. The blonde immediately felt a burden relieved off her chest and settled in her seat as well.

The rest of the class passed without any disturbances. When the bell rang, Mr. Strife assigned homework (a graphic organizer of the mediums of communication learned in class today—she'd need to get notes from a classmate) and dismissed the class. Everyone began getting out of their seats and chatting with their friends—next period was lunch. As Naminé moved to approach one of the girls she knew relatively better in the class, she felt a grasp on her wrist. Turning around, she realized it was Sora Hikaru.

"Yes?" she asked.

He grinned his trademark smile. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Naminé resisted rolling her eyes. They'd been in the same school for five years yet he didn't even known her name. Well, she was a grade younger than him. And she was invisible, after all.

Perhaps her pause was what prompted Sora to speak up. "Unless you want me to address you as Miss Blanc." He smiled cheekily in a manner that, depending on Naminé's mood, would make her either want to coo at him or slap him.

"Naminé," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Sora nodded. "Naminé Blanc," he said experimentally. "Nice meeting you."

"Umm…yeah," Naminé said, feeling the awkwardness creeping upon them. She turned around, ready to go again, but realized that the girl she'd wanted to copy notes off of was nowhere to be found. She resisted cursing at Sora, knowing he did nothing wrong. Exiting the classroom, she approached her lockers.

"Hey, I also wanted to ask…" It seemed like Sora Hikaru was the type of person that couldn't stand silence. They were presumably approaching the same destination (their respective lockers), so they were taking the same route and walking side by side.

"…notes for class? I wasn't quite paying attention, so I have no idea how to do the homework."

Reminded of her own failure to obtain class notes, Naminé huffed exasperatedly. "I wasn't listening either. I was gonna ask someone else in class for them, but you detained me."

She hadn't meant to sound hostile, though that was probably how her tone turned out as. Sora, however, didn't seem the least bit apologetic or guilty. He shrugged it off easily. "That sucks. Well, I'll ask someone else then."

"Why are you even in this class if you aren't interested in media studies?" Naminé asked out of curiosity.

"I could say the same for you." The same cheeky grin that prompted ambivalent feelings. "Anyways, I was taking sociology but the teacher was tired of failing me so he kicked me out."

"Oh."

"So, you? Why are you in the class when you're obviously not interested in mediums of mass communication?"

Naminé shrugged. "It was either this or computer science. I know for a fact that I would fail computer science, so I chose media studies."

"I see." The duo continued walking in silence down the halls. Soon, they arrived at their lockers.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," Sora said. Naminé nodded as she stopped at her locker. She was about to say something when another figure popped out in the corner of her eye.

Red hair. Slender body. Skinny shoulders. Wide eyes. Ski-slope nose. Plus the aura she exuded. Naminé was sure who it was before the figure entered her direct vision.

"Y—yeah," Naminé responded to Sora's words distractedly, her eyes fixated on the beauty gracing the halls of Pallad High. Naminé could feel her jaw stiffen and her fingers unconsciously clench into a fist. The corners of her mouth twisted downward and her back immediately straightened. This was the automatic response Kairi Flannigan compelled out of Naminé, even without making—

…eye contact.

Sora had said something, but Naminé wasn't registering his words. Her attention was completely fixated on the approaching redhead. Decked out in a low-cut blouse and short pleated skirt, Kairi was pulling off the naughty schoolgirl look pretty well.

"Hey Sora. And…Naminé, right? It's nice seeing you." Kairi smiled her picture perfect smile that showed her row of brilliant white teeth. For years, her and Naminé's relationship had been at a stalemate. Not that Naminé minded. The blonde knew that in a year and a half, she'd be out of this town and wouldn't have to see Kairi ever again. Anyways, it was Kairi's disregard that allowed for the blonde's current invisibility. As for Kairi's reasons for leaving their relationship alone, Naminé would perhaps never know.

Nonetheless, to maintain appearances, Naminé gave a small smile. "Yeah. It's nice to see you too."

The two stared at each other for a while, as if sizing the other up. Then, Kairi uncharacteristically broke away. She looked Naminé up and down, as if observing something on the petite blonde's body. The redhead then seemed to contemplate something for a moment.

Finally, she spoke. "So, how's your brother? I haven't seen him in town recently."

Something in Naminé tipped. Kairi was obviously looking for trouble, purposely mentioning _that_ topic in such a nonchalant attitude. However, the blonde knew better than to cause a scene in a public place with _Kairi Flannigan_. Suppressing the tendrils of anger curling in her stomach, the blonde managed a smile.

"He's fine. While we're on the subject of family, how's your mother?" Naminé knew she'd touched a nerve when she saw something flicker through Kairi's eyes. The usually composed girl had lost control for a split second. That split second was enough for Naminé to confirm that she had hurt her as well.

"She's fine," Kairi spat. She then turned to focus on Sora. "Sora! How was class? I can't believe Mr. Tatum actually kicked you out of sociology. Class was so boring without you today."

Sora shifted uneasily. "Yeah. My class was fine. I share it with Naminé."

"Oh." The red-haired beauty's attention was once again placed on Naminé. "How…pleasant."

Naminé carefully observed the dynamics between Sora and Kairi. The last time she checked, they had been together and happily dating. While Kairi was behaving as usual, Sora seemed uncharacteristically tense and uneasy. Had they…?

"Well, I unfortunately have second period lunch this semester. So I still have class. Have fun at lunch, Sora," Kairi said. Before Sora could say anything, Kairi leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. This seemed to startle the brown-haired teen who stared not starry-eyed but almost…resentfully at the redhead. His next gesture startled both Kairi and Naminé.

He threw his arm over Naminé's shoulder. "You have lunch this period, right?" he asked, addressing the blonde. Still trying to process his aberrant actions, Naminé nodded almost robotically. Sora grinned. "Alright, we'll go to the lunch then. See you, Kairi," he said. Before either girl could say another word, Sora had dragged Naminé away from the lockers towards the cafeteria.

Once they covered substantial distance away from Kairi, Naminé pushed Sora's arm off of her. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed, thoroughly puzzled and slightly infuriated.

"Hey, chill. It's not like I kissed you," Sora said, holding his arms behind his head. "Are you afraid of people touching you or something?"

"No!" Naminé exclaimed. What was even more maddening was Sora's complete nonchalance towards his prior actions. "But what the _hell_ was that?" she exclaimed, uncharacteristically cursing.

This seemed to inform Sora of Naminé's feelings. "Whoa, I'm sorry. If I had known you were so anti-touch, I wouldn't have done that."

"I'm not angry at that!" Naminé exclaimed. "I'm angry at the fact that you're _still_ mocking me with your words!"

"What?" Sora asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Ugh, there you go again!" Naminé cried. "You aren't even aware of how condescending you are!"

"Well, are you gonna tell me what exactly I'm doing wrong or do I have to keep on asking?" The derisive tone in his voice had, if anything, intensified.

Naminé huffed. "You're an idiot. I don't need to deal with someone like you now." Pulling herself together, she turned around and began stomping down the halls to the cafeteria. She was thoroughly infuriated and just wanted some time alone with a good meal.

Lunch passed by quietly. Naminé sat in her usual seat: an isolated table in one of the corners of the cafeteria where usually no one would look. It was also strategically located to give her a complete view of the cafeteria. She watched as Sora came into the lunchroom and look around for someone or something. As his eyes turned towards her direction, Naminé buried her face in her baked potato, hoping he wouldn't notice her. By the time she looked back up, he was seated with his usual posse at the large lunch table in the middle of the room, which consisted of a bunch of jocks, some of their girlfriends, and a few other populars that ran in the same circle. Of course, the only way to maintain their superiority and establish it as the status quo was to enforce it through peer pressure. That's why the A-listers herded together. Naminé herself had no interest in the high school social hierarchy, but it was something she came to observe while she was bored out of her mind.

For a moment, she thought she'd caught Sora's eye. However, even if she did, nothing was transferred through that split second of eye contact as both turned away quickly. Naminé sighed. She didn't know what about the boy had brought about such a big response out of her. If she'd acted like her usual passive self, she'd probably be no more than his seatmate during media studies class, a mere speck on his radar. Perhaps it was the weather, or the unwarranted encounter with Kairi today.

All she knew was he'd brought out something in her that she herself was not even aware of.

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**A/N: **My first Kingdom Hearts fanfic. I know Namora isn't a commonly explored couple, especially in longer fics, but I think they're cute and I want to experiment. Please review and share your thoughts!


	2. Chapter Two

******Chapter TWO**

Naminé usually spent her Saturdays doing homework. Although it sounded very nerdy, the blonde found the act to be very beneficial. She liked the feeling of having a whole entire Sunday all to herself. With all her homework done, the blonde could fully relax the day before the school week started.

However, Saturday was also the day her mother liked to send her on a bunch of errands in town.

"Naminé, today's supposed to be baking but we're out of some ingredients! Would you please go fetch these for me?" Naminé's mother was a kindhearted soul, the type of woman that was meant to become a mother. Her ashen blond hair fell inches past her shoulders and framed her dim grey eyes—eyes that had once been lively as a storm, but now carried much sadness and grief. Nonetheless, her smile was dazzling and could bright up an entire room.

"Naminé? Here's the list. Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver," the older woman gushed before continuing her list of chores. Naminé's mother worked as a psychologist, mainly serving as a counselor for preteens. Her most recent project involved a large group session for a multitude of clients around the same age. Though most of the times they simply had group discussions, Naminé's mother liked to mix things up a little every once in awhile by throwing in some activities.

"I'll be back in half an hour or so," Naminé said, pulling on a thin cardigan before going out. Destiny Islands was still relatively warm even in early winter—there was never a need to pull out the trench coats and snow hats stored away in the Blanc household's basement. Strolling down the roads, Naminé drew a deep breath. It was a little past midday, and the cloudless sky promised sunny rays for the rest of the day.

Naminé entered the supermarket with list in hand. Only then did she read through the ingredients her mother gave her. _What? Three packs of sugar, two of brown sugar, ten sticks of butter, thirty bananas, and a sack of flour? How the heck does she expect me to carry all of this by myself?_

Figuring she'd somehow manage as she always did, Naminé set about locating the items around the supermarket. The things started accumulating in her cart, and just by pushing it around, Naminé started to worry how she would get all these things back home.

After collecting all the listed ingredients, Naminé figured she deserved some sort of reward as well. Approaching the frozen foods section of the store, she glimpsed at the variety of cool desserts in the shelves, picking up two preferred products. She'd heard the new cherry-flavored sorbet tasted good, but she also have a craving for classical vanilla ice cream right now…

"Oh, hey, Naminé!" Turning towards the source of the voice, the blonde located a smiling Sora Hikaru waving enthusiastically in her direction. Despite their previous encounter, he seemed rather friendly and approachable. Figuring it'd be rude to just ignore him and dash down the aisles (plus, she wouldn't get her ice cream), she waved and waited for him to approach her.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" He eyed the ingredients piled in her cart. "Grocery shopping?"

"Sort of," the blonde replied. "My mother's baking today."

Sora nodded and then turned towards her. "And now? You're deciding between ice cream flavors?" he asked, his voice slightly increasing in volume towards the end of his words.

She wanted to laugh. The boy got so excited talking about such a juvenile topic as ice cream flavors. To entertain him a little, she feigned a pensive pose and a philosophical tone. "You don't know how hard it is. While everyone's telling me to try this new cherry flavor, nothing can really beat classical vanilla, right?"

Sora seemed to realize she was just playing along with his initial enthusiasm. Continuing the act, he also struck a pose. "Why, golly gee, Naminé, I see the predicament you've landed yourself in. But I have the perfect solution!" After a dramatic pause, he spoke. "I say you buy both flavors!"

Naminé raised a brow. "I doubt I'll be able to finish two cartons of ice cream."

"Well, that's why I'm here." Sora attempted to keep a straight face but couldn't suppress his wide grin. His antics threw Naminé into a fit, and she threw her head back and laughed. She laughed, like her life depended on it. She could feel her stomach muscles working hard, her diaphragm squeezing the remains of air out of her lungs. She was so caught up in laughing that she didn't have time to breathe. It felt good laughing so hard. It wasn't even that funny. Perhaps it was the image of Sora attempting to keep a poker face while failing pretty badly. Or maybe just because she hasn't had such a good laugh in a long time.

Wheezing deep breaths, she finally cooled down. "You are hilarious," she said, finally breaking out of the self-appointed character. "I think I'll get the cherry sorbet. Nothing beats a little tartness in your ice cream."

Sora made a dramatic gasp. "No. Don't tell me you're one of those people who thinks _sorbet_ is a type of ice cream?"

Naminé made an innocent shrug. "Yeah?"

Sora almost had a stroke. It was hard to tell if he was exaggerating or really had such strong opinions about ice cream. "No! Sorbet is not ice cream! Have you never studied how to make sorbet? You don't use milk or cream or any dairy products! It's a sham! You're being cheated of your money!"

"Whatever," Naminé said, shrugging off the matter. "Sorbet's cold, and it's sweet. So is ice cream."

"No, you're being brainwashed by mainstream American media! This is the reason you need to concentrate in media studies!" Sora exclaimed. Naminé laughed along good-naturedly. The two began pacing down the aisle as Sora explained how exactly you make sorbet and ice cream, emphasizing the large difference between the two. Though Naminé wasn't that interested in how to make ice cream, she did find Sora's gestures and obvious enthusiasm for the topic amusing.

Soon, they reached the checkout counter. "That was quite interesting. I never asked, but why are you here?" Naminé asked.

Sora fidgeted. "Actually, there was—err, I mean, I was getting ice cream. For my sister." Though he didn't seem to be lying, his obvious discomfort pointed towards some of the truth being hidden. However, Naminé didn't feel like it was her place to prod. She simply nodded and then looked at his empty hands.

"Then maybe you should go back and choose one, cause you don't have anything in your hands right now."

"Nah. I'm going to the ice cream parlor just next to this supermarket. My sister loves the mint chocolate chip flavor!"

Naminé blinked. "So why are you in the supermarket?"

The question sort of tumbled out of Naminé's mouth and left Sora speechless. She hadn't meant to call him out on his poorly veiled lie, but there was such an obvious gaping hole in his logic. Sora turned towards his side and ran a hand through his untamed hair.

After what seemed like a long moment of awkwardness, Naminé finally spoke up. "Hey. I really have no right to be interrogating you as to why you're in the supermarket. It's public property—you have every right to be here. So, I'll see you?" Turning, she began to push her cart towards the counter with the shortest line (which was inconveniently at the other end of the store) when a hand grasped her arm. She turned around, facing Sora.

The boy seemed slightly flustered. Taking a moment to recompose himself, he drew a deep breath and faced Naminé with a sincerity in his eyes she'd never seen. "Actually, I came to tell you I'm sorry. I realized I, err, seem to have pissed you off at school the other day, so yeah." He looked like he was about to receive an injection, a wave of apprehensive fear washing across his face, and prepared himself for the pain.

Naminé blinked. She didn't think he'd still remember their encounter. In fact, she'd expected him to completely shrug the matter off and never mention it again. If he never talked about it, she'd never either. That was the way the social hierarchy worked. His conscience was apparently very strong. Startled by his sincerity, Naminé took a moment to recollect herself.

"Oh! Yeah. It's just, umm…thank you. No, wait, I meant to say that it was partially my fault too. I was…completely overreacting that day because…umm…I overreacted. Yeah." The last word seemed to be said for self-confirmation. She looked up at Sora, who was trying to suppress…a giggle…?

"Hey, what's so funny?" the blonde cried out indignantly. It was embarrassing being laughed at by one of the most popular guys at school. Sora continued his half-stifled laughing, all the while making Naminé feel more and more self-conscious. She could feel a blush creeping up her neck but she tried to ignore Sora's pointed stares to keep the color down.

Finally, the brown-haired teen calmed down. "Sorry. I mean, I'm usually the one who's awkward and stumbling over words and all, but I didn't think you were the type as well." Though Naminé was irked by his half insult, she was completely put at ease by his easygoing grin. Not knowing how exactly she should respond, she finally settled with a smile.

"Alright. I'd better get going. My mom's expecting me at home soon," she said.

Sora looked at her and then her cart dubiously. "You're carrying all that stuff home? By yourself?" Naminé nodded. "How are you going to do that? Do you have a car?"

Naminé chuckled dryly. "My mom doesn't quite trust me. I have my permit, but she's convinced I'll bruise the family's car."

"What? Then how are you getting all that home? Do you live nearby?"

"It's not that far. I live on Leclair Street."

"Wow, everything about you screams French." Sensing the disapproving glare coming from Naminé, Sora quickly changed the topic. "Well, how about I drop you off? I have my car, and I'm heading towards Leclair Street anyways."

"Oh. I wouldn't want to trouble you," Naminé began, but one look at the spirited boy told her he wouldn't be taking no without a legitimate reason. Figuring this was the best decision and realizing she told her mom she'd be back in half an hour, she accepted Sora's invitation. The two quickly checked out all her items and exited the supermarket, Naminé pushing the cart.

"Oh!" Sora exclaimed. "Lemme go buy ice cream real fast. You can…actually, you probably don't know what my car looks like. Do you want to come get ice cream with me?"

Figuring she had no other choice, she accompanied the brown-haired teen to the ice cream parlor just around the corner. Naminé had actually never been to that particular store before. It was a small, cozy shop with an unrecognized name. She stayed outside watching her cart of groceries while Sora entered to buy his ice cream. He soon exited with a scoop of mint chocolate ice cream in a cup and another cookie dough on a cone. Holding the cone in one hand and a cup in the other, Naminé thought he looked quite childish.

"Ready to go? Unless you also want one…" Sora said.

"No, it's okay. Let's go." The two exited the store and walked to the parking lot, approaching a black vehicle in the parking lot.

"Is this your car?" Naminé asked, examining the sleek black automobile. The model looked unfamiliar, though the car was obviously of high quality. It was well kept with a polished surface and clean windows. Besides the choice of color, it seemed like the type of car Naminé would want to buy. If she had enough money.

"Yeah. Sweet sixteen gift. A bit clichéd, but very practical," Sora said. He unlocked his car and opened the passenger seat's door. "Hey, Xion," he said, greeting the girl seated in the car.

Through the windshield, Naminé could see Sora's sister, a petite raven-haired girl around twelve or thirteen, perched atop the front seat. Her eyes were like two bright, shining blue jewels, resembling Sora's irises. The girl's skin, unlike the typical islander (and like Naminé), was a smooth, creamy color, nearing an unhealthy pale alabaster. What was most startling about Xion was how skinny she was. Naminé knew she herself was considered slim, but Xion was abnormally thin. The blonde could see the faint outline of the girl's cheekbones and jawline on her face. Her shoulders were small, and her arms seemed to be nothing more than bones and connective tissue.

"Hey, I was waiting. Who's that?" Xion asked, peering at Naminé through the windshield of the car.

Sora turned towards Naminé. "She's, err, my classmate, Naminé. We're giving her a ride."

Xion's eyes shined dangerously. "Oh yeah?" she said questioningly, turning towards Sora with an impish grin on her face. "A ride to where? Home? Your bedroom?"

"Xion!" Sora exclaimed, startled by the girl's brazenness. He snuck a peek towards Naminé's direction, realizing the blonde was just as affected by Xion's words. "Just…eat your ice cream," he said, pushing the cup of green mint chocolate chip in front of her face.

Something ran through Xion's eyes. Naminé couldn't quite decipher it, but she could tell it had incited conflicting feelings in the girl. Xion eyed the ice cream cautiously, as if trying to decide whether or not it was poisoned. Naminé couldn't understand the girl's behavior. Xion seemed to be reaching out for the cup until she suddenly knocked it out of Sora's hands.

"You know I don't want ice cream!" she hollered, turning to face the front of the car. Her eyes were watery and her voice had been trembling; she was clearly upset. Thankfully, the spilt ice cream had landed on the pavement and not in the car. Sora sighed tiredly. Words were forming on his lips but he decided against saying anything and turned towards Naminé.

"C'mon, put your stuff in the back." Shutting the passenger seat's door, he seemed to completely disregard Naminé as he took the cart from her hands and pushed it towards the trunk. He then began loading everything by himself. Naminé tried to help but Sora immediately took whatever was in her hands. After finishing, he pushed the cart towards the side and approached the driver's seat, opening the door. Realizing Naminé was still standing at the back, he shouted out towards her. "Hey. Get in the car."

Blinking, Naminé barely processed Sora's orders before following them. She opened the car door and slipped in, resting on the soft leather seat. The tension in the air was thick. No one in the car spoke as Sora turned on the engine and drove off.

The tires crunched over pebbles and fallen leaves as the automobile moved silently down the road. Naminé was tempted to speak but she felt like an outsider to the silent feud between the Hikaru siblings. Whatever they were quarreling about was obviously nothing for Naminé to join in.

"Which house do you live in?" Sora asked.

His voice startled Naminé, since it had broken the silence that had settled in the car since the engine was turned on. After taking a moment to process his question, the blonde quickly answered, "4533."

Sora blinked. While keeping one hand on the steering wheel, the other flipped through a pile of papers stashed in a small compartment in the front of the car. Finally, he pulled out a small business card.

"Wait…do you know Dr. Florence Blanc?" Sora asked.

Naminé's ears perked up at the mention of the familiar name. "Yeah. She's my mom. Why…?"

Through the rearview mirror attached outside the car, Naminé noticed Xion's expression, previously serene and undisturbed after the lengthy silence, turn twisted and distressed. Suddenly, all the pieces began falling together. The tension in the car. The Hikaru siblings' aberrant behavior. Why Sora was coming to Leclair Street.

The Hikaru siblings were attending her mother's session.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate the feedback!

As a side note, the goal of this story is to depict a realistic high school love story. I don't want sudden confessions of love or the archetypal ex-girlfriend plotting the heroine's downfall. Hopefully this story will be as realistic as possible. If there is anything awkward or you think unrealistic, please tell me! Thank you!


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter THREE**

Naminé's mother flitted about the room, setting up last minute arrangements for the afternoon group session. Quite unlike her daughter, the older woman was more spontaneous and tended to do many things last minute.

From the kitchen, Naminé sighed. Her mother had always been a procrastinator, leaving things to the last minute. As the blonde teen placed the sticks of butter in the fridge, she carefully observed a certain displeased raven-haired girl seated on the couch. Naminé's first impression of Xion had been something along the lines of bold and spunky. Just based on her short exchange with Sora, Naminé had thought the girl was the type that spoke exactly what was on her mind, regardless of what other people would think. It was a quality that was rare to find in such a judgmental society today.

However, now seeing Xion resting on the couch, completely immobile, eyes fixated on a nonexistent point on the coffee brown wall, Naminé thought that she was perhaps a bit more unapproachable than she'd originally seemed.

"Hey. Where do you want me to put the flour?"

Naminé turned towards the toiling brown-haired boy clutching a bag of flour just at the foot of the kitchen. And who knew that one of her mother's patients was the younger sister of this boy she just got to know last week.

"Thank you. Just place it in that shelf, please," Naminé said, directing Sora to a cabinet. He approached said shelf and placed the sack inside.

"Anything else to do?" Sora asked. His eagerness to do chores seemed slightly misplaced. Naminé suspected that the boy wanted to keep himself preoccupied, or else he'd be forced to sit with his sister in awkward silence in the living room.

The (very small, but existent) sadistic side of her wanted to tell him he was relieved of his duties, but the blonde figured it would be wiser to accumulate some karmic credit now. "Umm…if you want to, you could help my mom move the huge whiteboard in the storage room out. She needs it for her session later."

"Alright," Sora said all too willingly. Purposely avoiding his sister's line of sight, he went around the back of the coach, confirming Naminé's suspicions.

The blonde shrugged. The family dynamics of the Hikaru household had nothing to do with her. She wasn't an expert at handling domestic troubles anyways.

The doorbell rang. "Naminé, get the door!" her mother called out from an inner room. Nodding, the blonde teen trotted towards the entrance and pulled the door open.

"Hello, Naminé." Naminé smiled gently at the mother who was pushing her son into the room. The boy was around Xion's age, with neatly combed brown hair and a healthy tanned complexion. Sometimes, her mother's profession broke Naminé's heart. It was hard to imagine that such a normal-looking kid as the one in front of her was mentally disturbed at such a young age.

The blonde teen welcomed the duo in, bringing them to sit in the living room. At times like this, Naminé strangely felt like a receptionist. After checking with the boy and his mother whether they wanted something to drink, Naminé retreated to the kitchen where she could observe her surroundings safely, outside the range of contact with the people in the living room.

Slowly, the patients of her mother's session began appearing in her living room, until the tiny Leblanc household could barely fit every member. Naminé and her mother had to drag in chairs from every place possible: the basement, the dining table, the fold-up chairs, the swivel chair in Naminé's room…. Finally, the last patient arrived a little late with her father, and Naminé's mother began the session.

Naminé usually opted out of these sittings. Her mother often encouraged her to participate, probably wanting to counsel Naminé along with the rest of her patients, but Naminé had her reasons for refusing to join. First of all, it seemed inappropriate for an outsider like her to intrude on these obviously very sensitive meetings. Second of all, she really wasn't up for three hours of pep talks and collective learning activities with pre-teens. It would be stifling and unbearable.

Today, there was also another deterrent: Sora's presence and cognizance of his relationship with Xion. Now that she thought about it, she did vaguely recognize Xion from previous sessions her mother held, but Sora was never present. Anyways, he wasn't in the age group to be one of her mother's patients. That crossed out one possibility. He must be accompanying her, since her mother required patients to bring along a family member of other trusted individual to each session. Now, that raised the question of why Sora was accompanying her instead of her parents. Though she was curious, she knew that it would be improper for her to eavesdrop on a familial affair. She and Sora were still virtually strangers, so suddenly learning about such private information would be an untimely invasion on her part and may make him feel threatened. It would be breaking through several of his personal barriers at once, completely redefining their relationship—into what?

To avoid those unnecessary questions, and because she didn't have any reason to do so, Naminé stayed in her bedroom during her mother's session.

The three hours of the session was sufficient time for her to finish her history and math homework. Fatigued after the intense mathematical calculations, she decided to reroute out of her room and grab a drink in the kitchen. Slowly, Naminé pushed the door of her room open, peeking at the living room—

"Ah!" the startled blonde cried out, jumping back. The contemptuous laugh that followed made the hairs on her neck stick up in rage. Collecting the remains of her self-dignity, she stood up and pushed the door open, just barely grazing Sora Hikaru's nose.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, clutching his nose.

Naminé scoffed. "You deserve it." Realizing he was blocking her way out of her room, she used her hand to push the door open wider. However, for some reason, the door wouldn't budge. Looking down, she realized Sora was using a foot to prevent her from opening the door any further. Looking back at his impish face, she decided that today, his cheeky grin was asking for a beating.

"Excuse me," she said as coolly as possible, partially wondering why he had cornered her in her room. Wait a moment, that sounded kind of dirty… Shaking out impure thoughts from her mind, she refocused her attention on Sora. "I want a drink."

The grin fluttered on his face and warped into a smirk. "Sure. Go ahead." He didn't move.

Naminé stared at him for a while. "_Excuse_ me, I said, meaning you're in my way. Please move." His behavior was really getting on her nerves.

Sora shrugged and took a step back, allowing the blonde girl to push open the door. "Actually," he started, "I'm here 'cause your mom told me to find you."

As Naminé exited her room and approached the kitchen, she was glad to see that the session had ended and everyone was doing their own thing now. Sora was following her, with his hands casually placed behind his head. "Why?" the blonde asked, responding to Sora's previous statement. She reached the kitchen and, maneuvering around the flour and batter and complete mess on the counters and over the floors, grabbed a glass to fill with water.

"Well, the session thing is over, but your mom's doing one-on-one talks now. I said I had nothing to do, so she told me to come find you."

Naminé rolled her eyes. To this day, her mother was still under the impression that Naminé was the golden girl at school who not only maintained academic excellence but also was a friendly, sociable model student. Whenever a child around Naminé's age came over to their house, he/she was sent to Naminé because her mother assumed Naminé could hangout with him/her. The truth couldn't be farther. Naminé only knew awkwardness when stuck with a stranger like that. Of course, said stranger was always too polite to tell that to Naminé's mother. Thus, her mother's prolonged impression of Naminé's social skills.

"I have nothing to say to you," Naminé told the brunet boy, taking a sip of her water. Mathematical equations and historical dates were still running through her mind, frazzling her overworked brain. She sighed. She only had an English essay left, but she should be able to finish it tonight if she started now, so tomorrow she could relax…

"But I've got stuff to say to you," he said. Naminé looked at the boy. For the first time that night, she realized he was dressed sort of formally. There were traces of hair product on his wild brown locks that were slightly (only _slightly_) flattened, and he was wearing a plaid button-up and dark colored jeans. Perhaps he thought that visiting a psychologist required formality…?

"Yes?" Naminé prompted.

His lack of words pointed towards an obvious lack of enthusiasm for real conversation with Naminé. The blonde suspected he just didn't want to be trapped by himself in the living room with a bunch of adults. The housewives were chatting about a useful detergent product while the men were discussing the implications of fluctuations in the stock market. As the only teenager in the crowd, no wonder Sora felt kind of out-of-place.

Noting his continued reticence and sensing an awkwardness settling, Naminé broke the silence. "So, do you wanna come to my room?" she proposed. Glad that she had spoken up, Sora nodded enthusiastically and followed her to her room.

Nothing scandalous happened, of course. All the clichéd TV sitcoms and romance novels made a big deal out of a girl showing a guy her room. In truth, there was nothing special about Naminé's room. She herself was a very organized person, so her sleeping quarter was always in pristine condition. All her personal articles of clothing were stowed away in the depths of her wardrobe so unless he was an open pervert, he wouldn't be able to find them. Embarrassing photos were never put on show in the first place, so she didn't have to worry about that.

"Take a seat," Naminé offered, gesturing towards the ground. However, the excited boy launched onto the large beanie bag in Naminé's room. He sunk into the soft cushions, relishing the comfort.

"You have a beanie bag in your room? Awesome!" he exclaimed, fondling the soft cushions while turning around on it. Naminé was about to scold him for dirtying her room but seeing his excitement, she decided to let him off the hook just this once.

"Be careful, you're gonna—" Naminé didn't even finish her words before what she'd seen coming happened. Having too much fun on the beanie bag, Sora twisted and turned so much he accidentally fallen off, landing on the hard ground. Naminé's natural sense of care rose as she rushed over to the boy on the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked hastily, again worried for the wellbeing of this brown-haired teen.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He laughed it off with a chuckle and crossed his legs over the other. "I realized I have the tendency to fall while around you."

Naminé shot him a pointed look. "Are you implying something? If anything, my presence does not cause your fallings."

He grinned. "Nope, wasn't implying anything. Just noting an observation." He whistled a cheery tune that occupied the silence in the room. Her growing restlessness was unsettling to both her and the boy in front of her.

"So, what classes do you take? I don't see you around often…you're a junior, right?" Sora began. Ah, the usual conversation starter between two classmates that were mere acquaintances: school. It was the only definite shared point between them and there would certainly be things to say.

"Yeah. I've got AP world history, honors biology, statistics, and media studies."

"Ehh, I don't know any of those teachers. I took all normal classes."

"Cause you're not that smart?" Naminé teased, a grin on her face.

Sora shrugged. "I'll admit I'm not that smart." He then grinned proudly. "Though I have to brag a little about my soccer skills."

Of course; the renowned soccer talents of Sora Hikaru. Though Sora might seem arrogant, he really was entitled to his fair share of bragging rights. His seniority alone warranted him captainship, but what made him stand out was his talent on the field. He was the striker of the team, the one who led the team to victory with his accurate shots and shooting instincts. Naminé had never been to any of his games, but she'd overheard from her classmates that he moved like lightning and struck as sound as thunder. Pallad High idolized their star player on a high pedestal, so high that sometimes Naminé wondered what would happen if he fell off of it.

Naminé grinned. "I suppose you should be accredited for most of our school's soccer team's wins."

Sora faked a dramatic gasp. "That is the understatement of the year!" Both he and Naminé chuckled lightly before quieting down.

"Well, you?" he asked, questioning the blonde. "What do you do in your spare time? Hobbies and such?"

Naminé shrugged, looking around the room for any hints to her passion in life. Really, she was invisible through and through. There was not a hint of color in her life. It wasn't even monochromatic; it was clear, transparent—nothing. She frowned, the realization of just how bland her life dawning upon her. If school was taken away, she really lost the one label of schoolgirl that defined her. What else could describe her…?

"Umm…sometimes I draw…" she mumbled, recalling the scribbles in a sketchbook hidden in the shelves. She snuck a peek at him. Seeing the expectant look in her eyes, she knew that he wanted to see her drawings. Figuring there wasn't any big harm showing them to him, she got up and walked over to the bookshelf to retrieve her sketchbook. Slightly hesitantly, she handed it to him. He smiled warmly, as if appreciative that she'd entrusted him with such a personal item, and flipped open to the first page.

His eyes widened. Staring at the picture inside, his pupils could not leave the image. "This—this is…" his voice trailed off, still stricken by the drawing. It was indescribable. Sora didn't know what to say about it. The blending of colors, the multitude of sketched lines, the sheer magnitude and riveting emotions inside of him…

"What is this?" he finally asked, showing the first drawing to Naminé. Naminé grinned sheepishly.

"I know it sucks," she said, her clear blue eyes turning towards the side abashedly.

"No, no," Sora hurriedly said. His mind attempted to figure out the right word to describe it. But really, only one word came to mind…

Abysmal.

He meant it in the nicest way possible…if that made any sense. Naminé's drawing was abysmal. If she hadn't told him she drew it, he'd of thought it was a kindergartener's scribbles. He'd expected some gorgeous landscape, or a shockingly lifelike portrait, but she gave him a crude picture of geometric shapes drawn with crayons. Her colors went out of the lines and the painted blotches resembled a child's half-hearted attempts to shade.

Sora suppressed a chuckle, which was smothered after Naminé shot him a glare. "I didn't mean to laugh, I'm sorry. It's just that—okay, I'll stop talking," he settled. Naminé wanted to stay mad at him but his grin made it impossible to stay mad at him for too long. His stupid disarming grin. She wanted to punch him—but at the same time she didn't. Which made her want to punch him again.

He really aroused clashing emotions in her.

"I really like to draw," Naminé said. "But I never really put in enough effort. I just don't want to bother sometimes. Which is weird cause I like to draw, yet…" Naminé frowned.

Sora returned the sketchbook to her, patting her hand. "Don't think too much. Just do what you want to do." His emboldening words were invigorating, for some reason. Maybe because she'd never been encouraged in her life.

She smiled. "Thank you."

A knock on the door drew the duo's attention. The door was slowly pushed open to reveal Naminé's mother standing behind. "Hi Naminé, and hi Sora. It's great to see that you're getting along." A few sarcastic retorts ran through Naminé's mind but she didn't bother voicing them. "Anyways, we're done for the night. Xion's ready to go," she told Sora. Sora nodded, standing up to approach the door. Naminé followed as well, being the good hostess she was to see her guest out.

In the living room, Xion was silently waiting on the couch. She was exuding a "don't-talk-to-me-if-you-don't-want-to-die" aura, challenging anyone to disrupt her silent meditation. However, neither Naminé's mother nor Sora seemed alarmed. Sora approached his sister and gently tugged on her hand, acquiring her attention.

"Let's go," he said quietly. Xion barely nodded and hopped off the couch, exiting the door without any regard for Sora.

Sora grinned sheepishly, as if wanting to smooth over the awkward scene the Blancs had just witnessed. "Thank you again, Dr. Blanc. Goodbye," Sora said.

"It's no problem, Sora. Though I think it'd be best if your parents came next time," Naminé's mother responded. Sora nodded and put on his shoes. His eyes drifted towards Naminé.

"See you at school tomorrow, Naminé."

"See you."

The brown-haired boy then left the Blanc household, the door shutting with a bang.

"Alright, time to clean up!" Naminé's mother exclaimed, preparing to move all the chairs back. Out of habit, Naminé followed her mother around to also restore the house to its normal state. "And while we're cleaning, we can perhaps talk about what you and Sora were doing behind closed doors. Nothing I wouldn't approve of, right?"

"Mom!" Naminé exclaimed.

* * *

**A/N: **I suck at writing realistic dialogue and personally hate writing awkward get-to-know-each-other talks so this was a pain to write.

Just to clarify: Sora isn't a patient of Dr. Blanc; he's simply accompanying his sister, Xion, who _is_ a patient. In case some of you are confused.

Also, Naminé's drawings are horrible. Really. It's not just Naminé being modest or anything but they're actually horrible. If you think about it, her drawings shown in KHII were crude sketches, weren't they? So instead of gifting her with artistic talent, I decided to make her suck at it.

Please leave a review and tell me what you think about the progression of Sora and Naminé's relationship!

**Response to anonymous reviews:**

Guest: Haha, the car ride was supposed to be awkward! For Naminé, at least. Yes, there is a reason Xion is attending Dr. Blanc's sessions, and it'll probably come up really soon. As for Kairi, I am slightly concerned that she may turn out as the clichéd ex, so I'll be watching that. Thanks for the support!


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter FOUR**

Namine's first class in the morning was spent napping. It was one of the most boring history classes yet. Usually, listening to the teacher drone on about European wars in the sixteenth century, all at 8:30 in the morning, was soporific enough. Today, he had decided to show the class a documentary, which meant that lights were off and curtains were drawn, creating a dark atmosphere. Naminé hadn't slept well the previous night, so she basically clocked off and slept through the film. When the film ended and changed to a PowerPoint slide, she stirred awake and tried to make sense of the teacher's words, all the while eyeing the ticking clock at the corner of the room.

Finally, when the bell rang, Naminé felt herself beginning to wake up. As the teacher drew the curtains, light splashed into the classroom and blinded everyone's eyes. Quickly adjusting, Naminé grabbed her bag, stood up, and left the classroom. She needed to get moving to wake herself up.

Reaching her locker, her fingers nimbly twirled the combination lock. Opening the locker door, she stuffed her thick history textbook in and retrieved a jumble of papers haphazardly stuffed in, mentally reprimanding her own disorderliness. She was slacking off these days. As her hands moved to stash the papers in her arms, an unexpected brush by her shoulder jolted her, her hand dropping everything in its grasp.

"Shit…" she muttered, still groggy from the morning nap. This was bound to attract attention. She mumbled some apologies under her breath to the one who'd brushed by her and immediately sank to her knees to retrieve her fallen papers. As her fingers reached for the last one, another larger, tanned hand grabbed it first.

"Here." Naminé raised her head slightly, just enough to catch the prominent features of the boy's face. If Naminé had to say, he was pretty cute. His blond hair was carefully styled to sweep towards one direction, and his shining blue eyes were fringed with long lashes. The small grin on his face also contributed to his cuteness. Finally, as if to finish the portrait of his face, two dimples surfaced on his cheeks.

After staring through her bangs for a while, she realized he was holding out her paper. Hurriedly rushing her thanks, she grabbed the stray sheet and compiled it with the others in her hands. Shyly looking back up, she realized he was squatting, a hand offered to her. Not wanting to refuse his generosity, she placed her trembling hand in his. For a moment, she realized the large contrast between his large, lightly tanned hand and her dainty, pale one.

In one movement, he stood and pulled her up. It startled Naminé, who'd almost fallen forward if the boy hadn't steadied her. Nervously, she bit the bottom of her lip, eyes darting from his face to the ground. Her eyes then made contact with his and he smiled.

"Be careful." Before she could say anything, the blond had turned around and sauntered down the halls. Though he had a slight slouch, his gait was casual and authoritative in a way. It didn't aggressively assert but subtly suggested his power in the school. If so, then why couldn't Naminé match the face with a name? Recalling his eyes, a name drifted in the banks of Naminé's mind, but it was gone as soon as she tried to grasp it. She furrowed her brows and a pout surfaced on her face. It was frustrating, unable to recall the boy's name.

Shrugging off the intrusive thought, Naminé grabbed her belongings and walked down the halls to media studies. She soon reached the classroom, relatively quiet for the few minutes before a lesson. She spotted Sora already seated in his seat, right next to hers, and headed in that direction. For a split second, their eyes met. It was impossible for Naminé to hold his gaze for long before her eyes darted towards the ground. Keeping her eyes away from him, she settled down in her seat. Sora mumbled a "hey" and Naminé responded quietly as well before she started sorting her papers.

Her mind drifted towards Sora Hikaru. The two had reached somewhat of a silent truce since his last visit to the Blanc household. It had been basically established that while the two were acquaintances, Xion's attendance at Dr. Blanc's sessions was never to be mentioned. In fact, Naminé wouldn't have minded if he decided to completely ignore her from then on. But Sora was intent on being friendly; that was just the type of person he was. Thus, whenever he saw her in the halls, the cheerful boy would acknowledge Naminé with a casual nod. Likewise, Naminé would return the greeting, and the two would continue down the hallway. If you didn't look closely, you might've missed or just overlooked the small gesture on both their parts, especially with Naminé's anonymity. Naminé had worried that the popular boy's noticing of her would attract unwarranted attention, but thankfully no one thought too much of it because Sora was simply the type to greet basically anyone he knew. His friendliness was ironically what ensured Naminé's continued invisibility.

And besides, the blonde thought as she filed the last stray handout, he wasn't that bad a person. Although she had previously ill-conceived perceptions of popular jocks like Sora Hikaru, he really was genuinely nice. His presence itself was disarming. Although they were only acquaintances, sitting next to him in media studies was easy. Conversation wasn't awkward, and neither was silence. It was strangely idyllic. They'd fallen into a comfortable routine.

"Good morning, class." Mr. Strife assumed his position at the front of the classroom and immediately began his lesson. Naminé flipped her notebook to the proper page and lifted her pencil, jotting down notes across the page. Although it was mainly lecture styled again, Mr. Strife made sure to keep the lesson largely interactive, asking for the opinions of students and sharing anecdotes with the class. After half an hour, Mr. Strife dropped the marker in his hands.

"Alright. Now, we'll have a quick in-class assignment." Seeing that he held his students' attention, he continued with his words. "Today we discussed the nuances and subtleties employed by designers in 2D advertisements. Please get in groups of three. I'll be passing out an advertisement to each group and I want you to collectively discuss what the designer of the ad is trying to convey and what techniques he or she uses."

After Mr. Strife's last words, students immediately began clamoring to form groups. Naminé sighed and rested her head on the desk. Whenever the class was asked to form groups, Naminé simply waited till the end for whichever group was missing a member. It was a pattern that had formed over time.

"Hey." Naminé turned towards her side and found Sora gently smiling at her. "Wanna join us?" He gestured to himself and another unfamiliar boy. Well, unfamiliar was a poor description since she knew them all her media studies classmates by name. This was Hayner, a brash and loud guy whose recklessness often landed him detentions. Naminé looked around the room, figuring this was the combination left. Shrugging, she scooted over to join the two boys.

"Hmm, Mr. Schaffer, Mr. Hikaru, and Miss Blanc? Interesting combination…" Mr. Strife commented as he dropped an advertisement on the desk nearby. Sora shot the teacher a cheesy grin while Hayner rolled his eyes and Naminé mumbled something under her breath. After Mr. Strife left, the group let an awkward silence settle. Naminé realized this really was an interesting (and poor) combination: Sora was lazy and didn't do work, Hayner had a very short attention span, and Naminé was too shy to initiate contact with the other members of her group.

"What the hell is this?" Hayner exclaimed, slapping his hand down on the advertisement. "I don't care about this shit."

Language, Naminé could hear her mother gently scold in the background. However, as the invisible introvert at school, the blonde herself said nothing.

"If you don't care, why are you in this class?" Sora asked, posing to Hayner the same question he'd asked Naminé days ago.

The normally hotheaded boy seemed flustered for a moment. "Well—umm, I mean…none of your business!" he exclaimed almost childishly before crossing his arms and turning the other way. Naminé had to stifle a chuckle at his puerile behavior.

"Umm, I think we should concentrate on our work," Naminé proposed, trying to unite her diverse group. Hayner glanced her way and Sora nodded noncommittally. "So, what is this ad advertising, Hayner?" Naminé asked.

"What's your name?" Hayner asked instead, his voice asserting his supposed authority in this group.

"Hey, she's in our class and you don't even know her name?" Sora's voice sounded slightly derisive. Naminé noted the normally happy brunet's ability to subtly slip rancor into his words. It was almost dangerous, since he was usually so encouraging and cheerful.

"Whatever. It's her fault. She's, like, invisible or something. I barely see her in the halls."

Hayner's words made Naminé recall a few of the insults people had thrown behind her back in her earlier high school days. Of course, it was "innocent gossiping" in their minds. No one knew how much words could wound. Though Naminé knew Hayner was just speaking what he thought, it still hurt. However, she had long built up a shield to defend herself from these jabs. His words just barely scraped her heart.

"Hey. That's rude." Naminé could tell Sora's natural streak of justice was getting worked up at Hayner who was simply voicing the thoughts of the student body. Given the brunet's sense of honor and Hayner's obstinacy, this could easily escalate to a full-blown fight if not properly subdued.

"It's alright, I don't mind," Naminé said. Sora shot her a look that said something along the lines of 'stand up for yourself!' but Naminé ignored it and redirected the group's attention back to the assignment. "Hayner, what do you think about this?"

Following the change of topic, Hayner focused momentarily on the magazine clipping Mr. Strife had given their group. "It's an advertisement for clothing," he finally said.

"Duh. The brand name is on the bottom," Sora pointed out.

Hayner shot him a glare. "Well, you say something then."

Sora shrugged, snatching the paper from Naminé's hands. Glancing over the graphics, he showed his group the picture and pointed at the group of teenagers casually lounging on the couch in the middle of the room. "Snob appeal. The ad wants us to buy these clothes because it'll make us popular or something."

Naminé nodded at his analysis.

Hayner seized the flimsy clipping from Sora's hands. "And also, the stare of the onlookers, and even the design of the clothes, naturally bring our attention to the brand name printed on these shirts," Hayner said, pointing at the bolded words_ DESTINY'S EMBRACE _on one of the shirts.

Questioning the veracity of his words, both Naminé and Sora leaned in towards the ad. Indeed, just like what Hayner had pointed out, the stares of the people around the picture naturally drew the audience's eyes towards the group of people in the center. What was more amazing was that the clothes were designed in a way so that the graphics all somewhat pointed towards the shirt in the center, which had the brand name printed across the torso area. This acute analysis made Naminé do a double take. Hayner seemed smarter than he was letting on.

"Yup, that sounds smart," the blond boy said as if in self confirmation. "We're done!" he exclaimed loudly, slamming the paper down and propping his feet up on the desk. Naminé could feel her brow twitching but instead simply nodded and leaned back in her seat. Her previous suspicions were misbegotten. Maybe he just pulled stuff from nowhere and coincidentally said something intelligent just to finish the project.

"Hey." Hayner's low, somber tone caught Naminé's attention, though she made sure to look at him through her peripheral vision so it wouldn't make him feel self-conscious. He seemed to be directing his words at Sora. "How's Roxas?" he asked. Hayner's voice sounded abnormally raw and tender.

Sora shrugged, holding his head up with two hands placed behind. "Who knows? He's still running around with that gang of his."

Gang? Roxas? Both sounded vaguely familiar… Suddenly, the scattered parts of her mind began putting the pieces together. Roxas was a boy in her grade, the boy who'd helped pick up her papers in between classes earlier today! He wasn't exactly popular, but he wasn't a loner either. He just ran in his own circles and mostly kept to himself, making him a noted but generally discounted presence at Pallad High.

Sora's chuckle brought Naminé out of her own thoughts. "You miss him? He's not hanging around with you guys enough?"

Hayner barely suppressed a guttural growl. "Stay out of my damn business. I only asked about Roxas."

Somehow, Namine's previous perception that the two of them were friends (or at least friendly with each other) was misconceived. The tension was slowly mounting once more.

Unexpectedly, Sora backed down. He raised his hands in a sign of mock surrender. "Got it. But I really don't know. That guy may be my cousin, but I don't constantly keep a check on him."

"He's your cousin?" Naminé let slip before she could stop herself.

For the first time in their conversation, the two boys turned towards the third party in their group. She felt herself growing self-conscious under their gazes and awkwardly tried to hold both their stares at the same time. Finally, she settled with the air pocket between the two.

Sora spoke up. "Yeah. You know him?" he asked. Hayner also seemed curious.

"N—no. It's just…I know his name and face, that's it. I didn't know he was your cousin," Naminé said.

Sora seemed satisfied with her answer, tilting his chair back. "Well, not a lot of people at school know. So don't consider yourself out of the loop or anything."

She'd never thought she was out of the loop. In fact, with her invisible status, she'd managed to pick up on a lot of personal gossip that ran around the school.

"Alright, we'll take turns sharing what each group has come up with. Who would like to go first?" Mr. Strife's voice redirected the trio's attention to the front of the room. The rest of the class was relatively uneventful, with groups of three sharing their opinions and everyone in the class feigning interest. The four groups all went and the last group finished just minutes before the bell rang.

Mr. Strife announced there was no homework, much to the jubilation of the class, and dismissed the students who began flocking towards the cafeteria. Just as Sora and Naminé began exiting the classroom together (something that had become routinely; both sat next to each other in class and had the same destination, so it was hard to not walk together), Hayner called for Sora's attention.

"Yeah?" the brunet boy turned around, drawling.

Hayner seemed to struggle with his words for a moment. "Well, I mean…" He coughed and looked towards his side awkwardly. "Tell Roxas we're hanging out at the usual spot today afterschool. He's, umm, welcome." Finishing his words, Hayner grabbed his belongings and rushed out of the classroom, brushing past Naminé. His words left the blonde girl thoroughly puzzled. What exactly was the relationship between Hayner, Sora, and Roxas?

"Hey, you okay?" Sora caught sight of Naminé's bedazzled state. Naminé turned towards him and nodded, her lips stretching into a small smile. They exited the classroom and began their daily walk to the lockers.

Usually, Sora managed to maintain small talk on these short trips, but for some reason, he was remaining quiet today. Naminé wondered if that meant he didn't want to talk or he was tired of initiating conversation with her. Both seemed likely in her opinion, so she carefully studied his expression. His eyes were translucent with a far-off look, as if recalling a distant memory. Naminé experimentally tried to slow her pace and realized Sora drove on regardless of her. Catching up again with him, Naminé was slightly worried. He seemed really out of it.

"Hey." Naminé's mumbled. This immediately caught Sora's attention. Rarely had the quiet blonde initiated conversation with him, unless it was out of obligation.

"Yeah?" he chirped, his tone automatically cheery and bright. Naminé blinked. She could hear the feigned enthusiasm in his voice. In reality, he probably didn't want to talk at all.

"…nothing," she said, continuing to walk down the hall in silence. Sora considered prompting her about her lack of words but really wasn't in the mood to so he decided otherwise.

They were rapidly approaching their destination: the lockers. Naminé wanted to ask if he was alright. He'd looked out for her so many times that she felt like now was her turn to return the favor. Just as she began to open her mouth, Sora spoke first.

"Roxas?" he exclaimed, hollering down the halls. Naminé turned towards the direction he was looking at just in time to spot the departing silhouette of the blond from this morning. "Roxas!" Sora hollered again. He turned towards Naminé. "Sorry, I gotta go. See you!" he exclaimed before running down the hall to chase down Roxas. Naminé felt stupid, standing there with her mouth open and no words coming out. She had wanted to care, but it seemed like it had been untimely interrupted. She sighed. But then again, why did she even bother? She never did in the past.

Why should she start caring now?

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks again for the reviews! They really are my inspiration to keep writing.

Anyways, the characters are starting to grow more complex. And we've introduced Roxas and Hayner! I'm still kind of unsure as to what Roxas' personality is like, so it may be a little inaccurate, but hopefully I've nailed Hayner's. He's kind of 2D in KH actually, since he plays a really minor role. I'm hoping to add more to his character in this story.

**Fun fact #1**: the name of the school, Pallad High, comes from Google Translator. I wanted something more creative than Destiny High so I looked through a bunch of translations for destiny in different languages. Palad in Filipino means something along the lines of "palm, destiny." The former fits the island setting of the school while the latter is a direct translation of the island's name. I added an 'l' for aesthetic purposes. If there are any Filipinos out there, please tell me if this is a poor translation (I'll blame Google Translator for that).

Please leave a review about Roxas' entrance! Though he only appeared for a few paragraphs and in passing in other's words...


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter FIVE**

"So is this gonna be a weekly occurrence?" Naminé asked as she habitually began sorting the papers on her desk. Sora was again hanging out in her room during the individual meetings of her mother's group session. This was the third time he'd been over, and he always insisted on hanging out in her room, claiming that listening to the fathers discuss politics and the mothers exchange housekeeping secrets really wasn't his scene. At first, she'd resented his presence since he'd made her self-conscious even in her bedroom, her supposed sanctuary, but eventually she grew accustomed to him and the occasional interesting nitbits of information he shared. Instead of just ignoring him and doing her own thing, Naminé found herself chatting with the spirited brown-haired boy more and more.

"Yeah. Am I unwelcome here?" he asked with a teasing grin. Naminé considered humoring him with a dramatic scoff and saying he was welcome to leave, but she didn't feel quite up to it.

"Why aren't your parents accompanying Xion? That is, since usually parents accompany their children to these things." After posing the question, Naminé mentally scolded herself. What is she had struck a nerve? She and Sora had been getting along pretty well; Naminé didn't want to suddenly wreck their progress.

Sora grimaced. "They're, err, kinda busy recently." Indeed, a nerve struck. A silence enshrouded the duo until Sora forced it away. "Anyways, I didn't know Dr. Blanc was your mother.

"We share the same last name," Naminé pointed out. Then, it occurred to her that he didn't know her name until about a month ago.

"And you two actually do look kinda similar…" Sora added. His eyes then narrowed down, scrutinizing the blonde girl who suddenly grew self-conscious.

"I suppose," Naminé responded nervously, fiddling with her papers as she recovered from the rush of color in her cheeks. She took deep, steady breaths and concentrated on the task at hand: sorting her papers. She could feel the heat leaving her cheeks, her face quickly losing the color.

Silence settled once more, and unlike usual, Naminé felt the urge to break it. She usually didn't mind these matters, in fact preferred silences, but with Sora, silence was abnormal. She was used to hearing the boy talk about inane subject matters that she'd never know otherwise. Through her peripheral vision, she observed the solemn expression that had crept onto Sora's face. Seeing his usually so cheerful face now downcast was, at the very least, unsettling.

"So, umm," the blonde nervously began, "how's soccer?" He'd definitely have a lot of say about that.

Sora blinked. "Soccer?" He seemed to realize that she was trying to start a conversation. "Oh! Well, we've had a great season. Only lost two of the thirteen games we've played. The two losses had been expected, since we were up against some really good schools. Some wins were unexpected, mostly due to the rising stars on our team. Y'know, ever since Riku left, the position for goalie has been open, cause no one has reflexes like Riku. Of course, Tidus is competent, but he's much better as a forward, especially with that bicycle kick he pulled off against Hilaga High two weeks ago, plus he's great at corner kicks. On the other hand, when he gets in the penalty zone, he tends to get kinda anxious—"

Naminé mentally balked. While it was great that Sora was cheery and talking, she couldn't understand half of the soccer terminology he was using. Feigning interest, she nodded along and made occasional hums of agreement. At least he was talking and had that lighthearted, easygoing look back.

"—along with his dribbling, so he's definitely getting promoted from being a bencher, and—" Sora stopped in the middle of his words, having realized that he was rambling. "Sorry, did you get any of that? I think I just bored you…"

"No!" Naminé exclaimed. "It was…interesting." She managed to a smile, hoping to set Sora at ease. Sora was the kind of person that made you want to please him. Seeing him upset was bothering. Like something in the cosmic universe was tipped off balance and…yeah, something like that.

Sora wasn't easily deceived by her words. "It's alright. It's my fault. I tend to ramble sometimes…" He smiled sheepishly, though he was appreciative of Naminé trying to put him in his comfort zone. "Enough talk about soccer. How're things in your life?"

Naminé stifled a giggle. "It's not half as exciting as yours."

"Something interesting must've happened. It's been a week since I've been over."

Naminé carefully pondered his question. "Umm…I got 100 on my history quiz?"

Sora groaned audibly. "I meant outside of class. It's the weekends. Let's not mention school."

"Fine." Naminé carefully thought about what she'd done in the past week outside of school. Which, to be honest, wasn't much. Really, she needed to get a life.

She decided to speak my mind. "I think I need to get a life."

"You just realized?" Sora teased. Naminé silenced him with an effective glare.

"It's sad, really," Naminé continued. "It seems like there's nothing to my life outside of school." She took a moment to wallow in self-pity. Looking at Sora, she noticed he had a determined look on his face.

"Let's find you a hobby!" he declared. Naminé almost facepalmed at his words. It was almost sad to admit that you had to _find_ a hobby. Nonetheless, Sora seemed serious. He regarded her earnestly. "Didn't you say last time you liked drawing?"

"But I usually only draw once a week, or month. It's something that I have to bring myself to do. I like the results, but the process is sometimes too dull."

Sora nodded, processing her words. "Alright. We'll think of something else then?" He paused, stumped by his own question. "Let's go online and find a list of hobbies for you to choose from."

What they were doing was so…Naminé didn't know how to describe it. It was so juvenile in a way, so absurd…cause really, who searched online for a list of hobbies to choose from (no offense to those who did)? At least it was something she'd never in her life imagined doing. She and Sora exchanged comments on some of the most ridiculous hobbies and argued over whether some were doable for the blonde. They bickered, they laughed, they pondered, they rejoiced.

They were just teens having some fun.

…

Naminé was in abnormally high spirits. Mondays generally came with the usual blues upon the arrival of the next school week, but the blonde was unusually cheery today. Perhaps it was the combination of a good night's sleep, a stress-free academic morning, and a…

A…fun Saturday.

The blonde girl was humming a cheery tune to herself as she walked down the halls. There was one more block left until school ended, and her exuberance didn't show any signs of ending. Hoping it'd last until the end of school, Naminé maneuvered through the halls to her last class of the day.

Perhaps a bit too caught up in her merriment, Naminé didn't realize until the last second that she was about to crash into someone coming around the corner. Jerking backwards, she avoided a near collision with the individual.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry—"

"My bad, I wasn't looking—"

Both immediately halted their words when they realized whom they were talking to.

"Naminé," the other greeted.

"Kairi," Naminé responded.

Tension immediately heightened at an unbelievable rate. Naminé could feel the bubbliness inside her quickly fading as her automatic defenses were raised. Only with Kairi did Naminé bother raising these defenses, because she never quite knew what the redhead would throw in her direction.

"You seem well," Kairi commented. Well, it seemed like they were off to a good start. At least they were civil with each other. Though that might be because they're in a public place, so anyone could see them talking. Both had a reputation to uphold.

"You, likewise," Naminé returned. The dynamics between the two was so complicated that Naminé had long given up trying to figure it out. Sometimes the redhead would try to bring back the past, while other times she ignored it completely. Naminé just had to tread careful waters when dealing with Kairi.

"How're your classes? Junior year's the toughest," Kairi said, resembling the mentor figure she used to be in Naminé's life.

"I'm getting by," Naminé said. She didn't like the tables turned on her. "How's senior year? Ready to graduate yet?"

"Just about." For a moment, Naminé felt like Kairi had dropped her pretenses. "I'm sick of writing essays talking about how I'm special or what I'll contribute to their college community." For a moment, it felt like two normal teenage girls just chatting with each other.

The feeling didn't last long.

Kairi put herself together and resumed her cautious regard of Naminé. "So, how's Sora recently? I heard he's been hanging around with you often these days."

So was this the subject she wanted to talk about? Sora? Well, Naminé didn't have much to say. Really, where did Kairi hear this? Besides in media studies, Naminé didn't hang out with Sora in school. Out of school was a different matter, but even then, it was only for an hour every week. Not that anyone would know…

Besides Sora.

Naminé shook the ridiculous accusation from her head. Why would Sora tell Kairi about his hanging out with Naminé every Saturday? Last time she checked (and confirmed through the extensive grapevine of Pallad High), he and Kairi had officially broken up. It came as quite a shock to the entire school since they were considered the golden couple that would stay together forever and eventually get married. They'd been dating for almost two years, a record for most high school couples. The usual rumors of pregnancy and infidelity were tossed between students but since neither Sora nor Kairi was willing to explain the real reason for their breakup and ferociously shot down anyone trenching too deep into their affairs, the matter was quickly relegated to last week's news in favor of more recent gossip.

Naminé carefully considered what Kairi knew and what she wanted to know. "I'm not sure where you got that information, but your source is most likely unreliable. I only hang out with him during the few minutes after media studies class since we're both headed towards our lockers." Naminé mentally winced. Was that too defensive?

"I see," the redhead said. She looked a lot more relaxed hearing that. Why did she ask that question in the first place…?

Kairi most likely saw the confused expression on Naminé's face and expanded on her two-word response. "I was just wondering. The rumors you hear in school are never reliable these days," Kairi explained.

Rumors? "What rumors?" Naminé asked, intrigued.

Kairi nodded. "Yeah. Some guys said that you and Sora were dating. I mean, I wouldn't mind if you two were, but—"

Naminé couldn't help cutting Kairi off. "Me and Sora _dating_?" she squeaked. The very thought was scandalous, in her mind at least. Sora was the popular guy reigning on top of the Pallad High social hierarchy. She was just a quiet lonely soul, miss invisible. "No, that's not possible," Naminé said, "I—I barely know him, plus he's a year older than me. We just share a class together, and—there's absolutely _no_ way that we—we—we're dating."

Kairi grinned. "That's why I came to confirm with you. It's always better come to the source of the rumor," she said. Naminé nodded while trying to get the color to fade from her face. However, where had that rumor come from? To be honest, it was…nice, in a way. The thought made Naminé blush even harder. Well, Sora was so popular, so to be paired with him was a nice thought. She imagined if she really were dating Sora—

No, she was straying too far from reality. Time to get back down to earth.

Kairi wasn't speaking, but it didn't seem like their conversation was quite over. In fact, the redhead looked deep in thought, pondering a philosophical question or something. Naminé checked her clock. There were minutes before class started. The blonde waited awhile before speaking up.

"Don't you have class?" she asked.

Kairi blinked. It took her a moment to register Naminé's question. She waved her hand, as if shooing a fly.

"It's physics. The teacher's near blind, I tell you. His glasses are super thick but he can't tell Sora from Tidus when they sit at the back of the classroom," Kairi said. Naminé giggled and Kairi followed suit as well. The thought was funny, and it seemed like they were normal again, just two friends talking up the world. Kairi then cleared her throat and got Naminé's attention.

"So, uh," Kairi began, "how's..."

Her blurred words almost stopped Naminé's heart.

"How'syourbrother?"

Silence. The smile on Naminé's face fell. Every time they were just getting friendly with each other again, Kairi had to raise the subject. It was like pushing the fact of her victory in Naminé's face, which only made her hate the redhead more. The bell rang, but Naminé didn't heed it. There was a much more important matter at hand.

"Do you really want to talk about this now?" Naminé hissed. Kairi faltered for a moment before she looked right back into Naminé's eyes with all her vigor and strength.

"Yes." Kairi's voice was barely above a whisper. "Naminé, I—"

"Don't," Naminé said. She knew what Kairi was gonna say. If she'd rehearsed this in her mind, she was sure Kairi had as well. "Don't tell me how you feel. Do you think apologizing will be enough? Do you think words can make up for your actions? Do you think saying things will go back to normal will make things normal again? You can't change the past, Kairi," Naminé said.

"I know, Naminé," Kairi said, feeling the tears rushing to her eyes already. Naminé felt her eyes water as well but she'd always had better control over her emotions than Kairi. "I just," the redhead continued, "I don't know what I should do for you to forgive me. Please, I really am sorry, and I do want things to go back to normal. Please, just give me another chance."

"I can't," Naminé whispered. "That's what you said when you broke my mom's vase. That's what you said when I found out about you and my brother. That's what you said when we ended our friendship over that matter. I gave you chances, Kairi, I gave you so many. You wasted them all." Naminé's eyes were growing watery too. She didn't know how long she could hold it all in.

"I swear, this is the last chance I'll need. I really didn't know—didn't know things would grow so out of hand."

"That's what you said last time as well." Naminé sighed. "Kairi, just don't bother. You destroyed my brother's life. I don't think I can take the risk again."

Silence. Kairi was weeping on her end while Naminé was using the last bits of her dignity to force the tears back.

Suddenly, Kairi's tone changed. "Alright. Fine. You don't need to give me another chance. I've tried apologizing and you're just acting childish and refuse to accept my apology."

"Me acting childish?" Naminé shrilled. "Do you think you breaking my brother's heart is just a joke?"

"Of course I don't think it's a joke! That's why I've been trying for years to apologize! Do you see what I reduce myself to every time I try to beg for your forgiveness? Why am I even doing this? Because I care about you and your brother. You won't even let me see him to get a chance to properly apologize!"

"He doesn't want to see you!"

"I doubt you've consulted his opinion on this," Kairi said. "Do you know how much courage it takes to admit your faults and apologize?" She barked a laugh. "Of course, it's probably something you wouldn't understand."

"What do you mean?" Naminé said.

Kairi glared at her. "Really? Are you still pulling the I'm-innocent act? I'm tired you acting like you're the sole victim in all of this. Sure, you got hurt, but you can't possibly have forgotten have happened afterwards." Kairi paused. Naminé had a sinking feeling she knew where this was headed. "My mother got hurt too. And so did I."

That caught Naminé. Kairi rarely played this card, but whenever she did, it was a major blow on Naminé. "That—I—" She hated thinking about Kairi's mother, a lovely woman in her early forties, and what had become of her after Naminé's untimely phone call. "I don't—I don't see how this is related to what we were just saying," she mumbled.

"Yes it is!" Kairi exclaimed vehemently. "This is why our relationship is always at this standstill! I try apologizing, but you won't accept it, either lashing out or blaming me for everything. I think you're refusing my apology because accepting means you'll have to apologize to. In these two years, you've never even asked to see my mother. Don't think you've hurt my mother any less than I've hurt your brother."

"That wasn't my fault!" Naminé exclaimed. She was panicking, memories welling up from the past. Tears were streaming down her face. "How was I supposed to know your mom was driving when I called her?"

"That's like saying I didn't know my relationship with your brother could ruin an engagement."

"What you did was fundamentally wrong! I just—I was just unlucky!"

"The end was still the same. My mother's a paraplegic because of you, and your brother's single and heartbroken because of me. Neither of us is innocent in all this."

"No! But—but isn't it…it's supposed to be…" Somewhere along the line, Naminé realized that she'd become the emotional one whereas Kairi was the calm one. The blonde was now a mess, trying to organize her thoughts and feelings whirling in her mind. "I—I don't—"

Kairi sighed, cutting off Naminé's stuttering. "Just admit it. We both screwed up, in people's lives and our friendship." She paused, contemplating her words for a moment. "I really think I've done my part. So you just do what you think you should do now."

She didn't know what to say. She was choking up, words stuck in her throat and the weariness of crying dawning upon her. She didn't want to think about this now. Things were easier when Kairi was the only big bad. She hated thinking about her part in destroying their friendship. Maybe Kairi was right. Naminé didn't want to accept her apology because that meant she had to apologize for the redhead's mother's unfortunate condition as well.

Kairi's shoulder brushed by Naminé's as the red-haired girl proceeded down the halls. Perhaps the blonde would just skip this period. The teachers never really cared anyways, and it wasn't like that one kid didn't always skip class as well. As she dried her tears, her hand drew to a stop when she heard Kairi speak.

Her words made Naminé's blood freeze.

"Sora! What are you doing here?" A complete 180° turn from her personality with Naminé, Kairi was all smiles and sunshine as she approached the brown-haired jock.

What? Sora was behind her? She didn't have the face to see him now. If he was behind her, then…

How much of their conversation had he overheard? She couldn't tell since her back was facing him, but didn't that mean Kairi saw him? Was she aware he was listening? Kairi would've stopped the conversation if she saw him, so did that mean she was too caught up in their argument and hadn't seen him either? Or maybe she set this all up. She wanted Naminé to say those spiteful words so Sora would see her worst side and realize the large disparity between who he thought she was and who she really was. Was that the redhead's motive for striking up this conversation in a relatively public place as this hall?

There was no way to tell. Kairi could be a real mystery if she didn't share her thoughts with anyone.

"I came to find you, since we have class time to work on our project. I can't do anything by myself," Sora said.

"You could never do anything by yourself." Kairi's sweet croon made Naminé want to vomit.

"Err, yeah." Naminé could tell Sora was getting nervous. "So, what were you and Naminé talking about? It seemed pretty intense…"

"Oh, nothing much. You know, just the usual gossip between two girls." So Kairi hadn't seen him either. That was a relief—so this wasn't a big setup.

"But you're late to class…was it really that important gossip?" Sora asked, confused.

"You won't understand girls. C'mon, let's go."

"But Naminé—"

"Let's _go_, Sora."

Hearing their footsteps, Naminé dared to turn around. Kairi's arm was interlaced with Sora's as she dragged him down the hall. He seemed to be hesitating, perhaps still curious as to the situation he'd just witnessed. At the very least, she was satisfied with Kairi's handling of the situation. She didn't want Sora to know about this ugly, dark side of her.

…

There were two things running through Sora's mind: something was up, and he wasn't stupid. Really, though he didn't achieve the stellar academic grades his parents wanted or wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, he wasn't dumb. There was no way Kairi and Naminé would be idly gossiping in the halls during class hours. Kairi, perhaps, if she was really excited or caught up in it, but he knew for a fact that Naminé wouldn't risk a detention and missed class hours. Thus, he knew that Kairi was lying to him.

Next, something was up. Specifically, between Kairi and Naminé. He recalled the first time he'd seen them two interact, and the tension then was subdued but ever-present. This time, the hostility between the two was unmistakable. He'd seen them conversing in soft whispers and the occasional exclamation but hadn't picked up on any hints as to what they were saying besides a few words that didn't have much meaning standing alone. What was the relationship between the two? Initially he'd thought they were mere acquaintances, judging from Kairi's greeting to her the first time he'd seen them together, but obviously, there was something more to the two girls.

He remembered what had followed during that first encounter. He'd just broken up with Kairi yet she was still kissing and touching him like it had never happened. It was like she was flaunting the fact that she could still do whatever she wanted with him regardless of their relationship status. That had gotten him mad. Hoping to remind her that they'd broken up, he'd pretended to act intimate with Naminé to show her that he could flirt with other girls now that they'd broken up. To remind her that they'd broken up. He thought he'd succeeded in taking her down a notch when she came up to him the next day with a much more subdued way of speaking. So when she started reverting to her old ways, he'd flirt with another girl, but for some reason, it hadn't worked. He hadn't worked it out then, but he did now.

Kairi didn't mind him hanging around with girls, but she did mind him hanging around with Naminé.

It was a strange conclusion but matched his observations. Judging by their conversation just now, the two were unfriendly at the least. He didn't know exactly how or why, but Kairi was really unfriendly with Naminé. He'd even define their relationship as hate if he were to go to extremes.

As for Kairi, he didn't know if he still liked her, but he wanted to see her regret the decision to breakup as much as he had.

* * *

**A/N:** This is a second draft that was word by word pumped out. Initially I created a huge confrontation for Naminé and Kairi in the second part of this chapter, but then I scrapped it since it seemed OOC. Then, I was trying to imagine how the dialogue between Kairi and Naminé would go and had to constantly alter POVs in my mind. Hopefully their discourse is believable. Finally some bits about Kairi and Naminé's past is revealed! The plot thickens...in my mind.

And the word count for my chapter has gone up! Yay! More than a thousand more words than the last chapters! Haha, but no guarantees that all the following chapters will follow this trend.

Thanks for all the reviews! They're all motivations for writing! I can't seem to see where this story will end up but I'm slowly planning out the chapters. If you have any suggestions or comments about this chapter or the story as a whole, please review or PM me!

**Response to anonymous reviews:**

Pandora1999: In regards to Ventus and the other BbS characters, the problem is that I've never played BbS so I'm not quite sure what their personalities are like. However, I have read a ton of fanfics that use BbS characters. So yes, I will include them, but please excuse them if their characters are a bit OOC. :)


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter SIX**

Naminé's day usually starts out with waking up at 7:00 in the morning. She snoozes her alarm and then crawls out of bed after the second time it rings. Afterwards, she brushes her teeth and washes her face before going back to her room and picking out an outfit to wear for the day. She then returns to her bathroom to comb her hair and, if she's in the mood, put on makeup and accessorize.

After that, it's around 7:45. She goes to the kitchen and finds breakfast prepared by hermom. It's usually a health combination that's filling and satiating, such as Naminé's favorite cereal or a yoghurt parfait. Her mother is quite the nutritionist, one of the requirements in her line of work.

Breakfast passes by idly as Naminé slowly consumes her meal and chats with her mother. Breakfast is one of Naminé's favorite times of the day. She's eating, she's chatting with the one person in her life she's closest with, and things are going at her pace. She likes the sense of ease.

Of course, nothing gold can stay. At 8:00, Naminé reminds herself that she can't be late for school and puts away her plates in the sink. After going over her belongings one more time, Naminé puts on her shoes, bids goodbye to her mom, and then sets off to school.

It's a quick three-minute walk to the bus station and usually a long five-minute wait. She's always early in case the bus decides to come early, though so far it's only ever been late. Five to seven minutes later, the bus arrives and she boards the shoddy yellow vehicle, holding her breath as she enters the stuffy enclosed space. It's always stifling but nothing she can't handle. She's handled it for three years, after all.

She usually sits somewhere near the front, since it's considered uncool to sit in the front and it's convenient to get on and off the bus. The driver's a friendly enough old guy who sometimes engages in small talk with her, probably because he feels bad that no one's talking to her while the back of the bus is a storm of gossip. She appreciates his concern and tries to converse with him when he does so. He's pleasant, she'd decided awhile ago, although he has a slightly strange sense of humor.

The ride is ten minutes long, fifteen with traffic or bad weather. When the bus arrives at school, she takes advantage of her seat's position and is the first to get off the bus. The open air is refreshing after staying cooped up on a hard metal seat with either too strong perfume or cologne or sweat wafting from behind her. Fresh air is good. After a quick moment of refreshing, she heads down the sidewalk towards the entrance of Pallad High. There's five minutes or so before class starts, so she goes to her lockers, replaces her textbooks for those of first period's and then goes to her homeroom class. She sits for a minute or so before the bell rings and school officially begins.

The teacher takes roll and then lets the students do whatever they wish. Naminé stays quiet in her little corner and waits for time to pass. The bell rings—first period: AP world history. It's in another classroom down the hall, around the corner. She's one of the first to arrive and waits for the bell to ring again and the teacher to arrive. Class ends—next, media studies. She sits with Sora through a fairly interesting lesson of whatever Mr. Strife teaches. Then, their customary walk to the lockers, the only time of the day she really talks to someone at school about something not related to academics.

Next is lunch. She usually sits in a corner by herself, quietly munching on her food while observing the cafeteria. After her quiet meal, her afternoon classes are pretty intensive and times drags by as she takes notes and listens to lectures. Then, when the bell rings, she leaves the school building and boards the bus to return home.

Once home, she starts to relax. She slouches in her seat, props her feet up on another chair, ties her hair up into a sloppy bun, and begins homework. After reading some historical documents and spamming her graphing calculator with data values, her mom comes home and begins to make dinner. Usually, she grows tired of doing homework, so she surfs the web a little until her mom finishes making the evening meal.

As they eat, mother and daughter chat about random subjects that come to mind—Naminé mentions something interesting that happened school, her mom provides a psychological analysis of the observation, her mom asks for Naminé's view about one of her patients, etc. After dinner, Naminé helps clear the table and do the dishes before returning to her room and finishing her homework. By then, it's around 10:00. After taking a shower, she returns to her room and checks her email and social networking homepage (yes, she does have a username on that, though she rarely comments). She reads some interesting news articles, peruses a novel if she borrowed one from the library, writes in her diary if she feels like it, or plays on one of those gaming sites online. She's gotten quite good at that leapfrog game and Tetris. Finally, at around 12:00, she crawls into bed and falls asleep.

Her life is relatively routinely and passes by on a regular basis. And she rather likes it that way. She likes how she can predict what's happening and things are under her control. Little changes, like meeting Sora, had been easy to incorporate into her schedule. After an adjustment period, she accommodates the change and integrates it into her routine.

That's why it's pretty obvious, for her at least, when a big change completely throws her schedule off-track.

…

As usual, Naminé woke up at 7:00 to the sound of her alarm. Snoozing her alarm, she crawled back under her covers and tried to get another few minutes of sleep. Just seconds after, a loud noise shrilled through her room—not her alarm clock, but her phone's ringtone. Grumbling, she reached as far as she could and managed to grab ahold of her ringing cell phone. Her eyes squinted to read the caller ID. It was an unknown number.

"Damn you," she muttered, rejecting the call. It was probably one of those ridiculous commercials trying to get her to buy their insurance. She'd tried politely telling them she was only in high school, but then they went on saying how high schoolers need insurance too—for their health, their car, their life…

She didn't like how they made it seem like she was gonna die sometime soon so she learned to abruptly hang up on them or just not pick up. Besides, people who had something legitimate to say to her had their numbers saved in her phone. Naminé made it a habit to not pick up unknown numbers.

She replaced her phone on her desk and crawled back under her covers. Just as her eyelids closed shut and she felt herself drifting off to catch a few z's, her obnoxious alarm clock rang for real this time.

"Damn…" she groaned. The untimely phone call had completely ruined her extra minutes of sleep that were crucial for her morning. She was always in an extremely grumpy mood when she didn't get those extra minutes. It was more of something her biological clock had adjusted to, so she always felt extremely displaced when it was interrupted. Lying on her bed, she moaned to herself for awhile, unwilling to get up more than usual without her moments of extra sleep.

Nonetheless, she had to plough through with the rest of the day. It was a Thursday, just a little more than halfway through the school week. She could do this. Going to her bathroom, she began brushing her teeth and washing her face. Staring at her empty tube of face wash, she resisted the urge to curse. She usually had backup anyways. Flipping through her drawers, she pulled out a new bottle from the depths of her drawer. Unfortunately, it was a completely different brand and had a strong smell of lavender. Nonetheless, she had to wash her face. So she used the new face wash, which left behind a strange sticky feel on her face, which took extra time to completely wash off.

Returning to her room, she flipped through her closet to find something to wear. The weather was getting colder, so she grabbed a thin long-sleeved shirt, long jeans, and a grey zip-up hoodie and quickly put them on. Returning to the bathroom, she quickly ran a comb through her scruffy blonde hair (she had horrible bed hair—it was always all over her face in the morning) and tried to flatten a stray cowlick with some water. It wasn't completely flattened but it would have to do. She forwent accessories and makeup because she was running behind schedule and dashed to the kitchen.

Reaching the dining table, her eyes caught the clock that read 7:53. Not good. Her mother smiled kindly at her and handed her a plate of pancakes with syrup. Naminé immediately dug in, tearing apart the sweet pastries. Not quite healthy but very satisfying. Her mother passed her an apple to eat as well. "Slow down," she told her daughter. "You're in no rush."

"I kind of am," Naminé replied. "I woke up to an unknown number calling my phone and I ran out of face wash."

"I'll buy some for you today after work. Do you still use the same brand? The blue one with the waves?" her mother asked.

"Yeah. Thanks." She was still rushing her meal since she had to make up for lost time. Finally, she finished her apple and threw the half-eaten core into the trashcan.

"Be careful!" her mom yelled after her as she put on the canvas shoes she wore yesterday and rushed out of the house. She swore, if the bus chose today to be early, she'd kill someone.

Thankfully, it didn't come early but just on time. Naminé had two minutes to spare before the yellow vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the stop.

Because she was late, a group of students boarded the bus before her. She didn't mind until she got on and realized a small brown-haired boy took her usual seat. He didn't look familiar, maybe a freshman, and she didn't want to pick any trouble so she sat in the seat behind him. It was unfortunate too, since the driver was usually chattier near the end of the week.

Nonetheless, the bus ride proceeded normally. She didn't mind the loud chitchat behind or the silence up front. When the bus arrived at the school, she got off right after the boy. Good. Despite waking up late, she was still on schedule. As she walked down the sidewalk, she inhaled the refreshing morning air, her brain just starting to awaken from its dormancy—

"NAMINÉ!"

Okay, something was wrong. No one, and she meant _no one_ should be hollering her name in the courtyard at 7:25 in the morning. First of all, it was still too early for her brain to take noise at high decibels. Second of all, no one would ever do that anyways. For a moment, she wondered if she'd heard the wrong name. Maybe it was Natalia, or Nadia, or Allie May. But as she watched the figure of the person who'd hollered her name slowly approach, she realized it was indeed her name called out.

"Naminé! There you are!"

What the heck was _Sora _doing talking to her before school hours?

"I was looking for you," he continued, disregarding the blank expression on Naminé's face. She really didn't know what to do at the moment. He wasn't supposed to be talking to her (that was meant in the kindest way possible. She meant he usually didn't approach her at these hours of the day. Really, her filter was loose when she didn't get enough sleep.). She, however, managed a small smile and tried to refocus on what Sora was saying. "—and you too. Naminé, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Darn it, she hadn't. "Y—yeah?"

He chuckled. "Obviously you weren't. Was that a question or a statement?" he teased. She wanted to tell him he sounded like her biology teacher (the man always preached about having confidence in your answer) but that wasn't something she'd say to him in the middle of the schoolyard.

"Umm…no, sorry. I'm still…kind of sleepy," she covered. Sora slowly nodded, his brown locks drifting up and down in the air. This was her chance to get away. "Well, I still have class. So I'll talk to you later…?" she trailed off.

"Well, I guess that's okay. Don't wanna be late for class." He shot her one of his award-winning smiles that had won over the hearts of many girls in her school before turning on his heel and dashing back to where he came from. Naminé blinked at his retreating figure. What was that about?

The whisperings around her were getting conspicuously louder. It was pretty obvious what they were talking about—the events that had just transpired. Knowing this wasn't her scene, Naminé immediately dipped her head low and charged straight to the school building. To her utmost horror, that morning encounter had almost made her late for school as she slid into her seat just seconds before the bell rang.

"Good morning, class!" The teacher was unexpectedly cheerful today, but that was an allotted variable. Her teacher admittedly had his mood swings. "I'll be taking roll now. Respond when you hear your name! Let's see…"

And so began roll call. Naminé raised her hand and responded when she heard her name called. Things were proceeding normally, besides the occasional whisper and pointing in her direction. Nothing she couldn't handle. This was nothing compared to the old days.

"Hello, mister!" a cheery voice exclaimed. Naminé blinked. She had been picking at a dry scab when the loud voice filled the classroom. Twenty-seven heads raised and turned towards the door of the classroom. Naminé's eyes widened. Was that…Sora?

"Why hello, Sora. How may I help you?" her homeroom teacher asked brightly.

"Yeah, the boy's soccer coach is asking for everyone on the team to have a quick meeting right now to go over some tactics for the game afterschool today. Err, that'd be him, and him," Sora said, pointing at two of the boys in the classroom. The teacher nodded.

"Alright, just let me get their names on my attendance sheet real fast," the teacher said returning to his clipboard. In the mean time, Sora was grinning and smiling, oblivious to the girlish squeals and battering eyelashes all directed at him. His eyes caught Naminé's and he shot a subtle smile and nod in her direction before continuing to observe the general classroom. The question of what he'd been asking her this morning rose in Naminé's mind and she made a mental note to ask him during media studies.

"Alright! They're good to go!" the teacher exclaimed. The two boys rose from their seats and went to follow Sora out of the classroom.

But seriously, it had been literally ten minutes into the school day and she'd seen Sora twice already. Wasn't there a limit to how many times you could see a person in one day?

Her first block passed quickly with a lecture on the significance of the navy in early wars. There were some technical terms to learn but besides that, the lesson passed smoothly. When class ended, she left the classroom and went to her lockers. Quickly replacing textbooks and folders, she shut her locker door and almost jumped at the boy behind it.

"S—Sora!" she exclaimed. He was grinning his silly smile, leaning on the locker next to hers. "Umm, yes? Did you need something?" she asked. She usually saw him in the media studies classroom, not before class at the lockers like this. She was pretty certain he didn't usually come to the lockers between his first block and media studies, since she'd never seen him here before this day. So that meant he came here…on purpose? To find…her?

"Yes I do," he said matter-of-factly. "I wanted to ask you something." He paused, flipping through his pockets and pulling out his phone. Sliding his finger across the touchscreen, his eyes roved through the contents of a page. "Sorry, Naminé, it's my coach. I gotta go find him right now. Could you help me tell Mr. Strife that I'll be missing media studies today?"

That—that was what he wanted to ask? He wanted a favor? A part of her that she didn't know existed till now sagged in disappointed, while her naturally responsible side rose to the request. "Of course. Will you be gone the entire block?"

"Most likely. There's a major game afterschool. Hey, I'll talk to you later, alright? See you." After a brief farewell, Sora was running back down the halls from wherever he came from. She spotted Tidus, one of Sora's jock friends, patting his back as the two began to talk about who-knew-what. Irritation rose inside her. Seriously? He came all the way from wherever just to ask her to pass the message that he'd be absent for class? Couldn't he have just texted her?

Though he didn't have her number…

Then why didn't he just ask someone else?

Well, he sat next to her in class most likely cause he didn't know anyone else in media studies…

Wait, that was faulty logic. He knew Hayner!

But then there was that tension between them that she'd sensed last time…

She felt her head growing big just thinking about why he asked her to pass along the message. Shutting off irrelevant thoughts in her mind, she drew a deep breath. This was ridiculous. Sora wanted a favor and thus came here to ask her for it. She would do the favor for him. Period. No more useless thoughts about it. She was just wasting her time.

She jumped back into reality when she realized the lockers area was mostly cleared of students. Dashing towards her media studies classroom, she made it to her seats about a minute before the bell rang. Stupid Sora. He'd almost made her late twice already.

She passed on the message to the teacher. Though Mr. Strife seemed dubious that she didn't have written proof, he said he'd ask Sora himself about it later. She sat down in her seat and found herself watching the clock every other minute begging for class to pass by. The class was much less interesting without Sora's usual witty remarks that Mr. Strife would shoot down. It was strangely quiet, and she was sure she wasn't the only one who thought so.

Finally, the long awaited bell rang. She exited the classroom by herself, another strange thing about her day. It was disconcerting without Sora bringing up random topics to cheer her up. Without him, the fatigue from school seemed even more overwhelming. She sighed tiredly, placed her textbooks in her locker, and proceeded to the cafeteria. As she entered, she spied a group of people, the soccer team, all huddled around a large table. Obviously a pre-game prepping session. The bunch was loud and rowdy, inhaling food at inhumane speed. Well, they were boys after all. In the center was Sora, munching on a chicken wing while listening to Tidus. She grinned. It was nice that the soccer team members were so close with each other. It was like a family outside of school. She'd admit she envied them a little. It must be something to have that type of support group with people who you've shared victories and gone through the same hardships with.

She shook herself out of her little reverie. She knew she wasn't up for athletics—she was fine in gym class, but sports required a certain dedication and passion that she knew she didn't have in her. She wasn't athletic material anyways. Quickly grabbing her lunch and assuming her usual spot, she finished her meal in her quiet little corner and went to the lockers to, in lack of better words, chill. This was where she sort of hung out when she had nothing better to do. There were other people studying or actually hanging out with friends, so at least she wasn't alone.

Well she felt alone…but that was another thing.

"Hey, Naminé!" Naminé had recognized the perky voice immediately and didn't even bother looking up from her book. The cheery boy slipped into a seat next to her, leaning on the lockers. "Whatcha reading?"

He seemed keen for casual talk, but she remained buried in her book. "World history required reading about the crusades," she mumbled as she flipped a page. For some reason, she was mad at Sora. Thinking about why she was mad made her even madder, so she just settled with the fact that she was mad.

"Oh," was Sora's brilliant answer. "So, did you pass on my message to Mr. Strife."

Her mind was in the middle of registering something about the purpose of the crusades when Sora's question interrupted her thoughts. Great, she'd have to reread the entire paragraph. However, she didn't let her irritation show. "Yeah. He said he'd find you to confirm for himself, since I didn't give him a note or anything."

"Oh. Okay. Maybe I should go find him then…"

Was he going away? She couldn't help looking up from her book to sneak a peek at him through her bangs. His head was indeed looking around, as if searching for Mr. Strife amidst the throng of students.

"Mr. Strife isn't here," Naminé said as Sora turned his head towards her. "You're looking for him, right? He always eats lunch off campus."

"Oh. Err, okay, thanks." Her curiosity momentarily piqued by the hesitance in his voice but was distracted by his following words. "And how do you know that? Don't tell me you're one of those girls who secretly stalk him," he teased.

"W—what?" she exclaimed. "I—it's just, I've tried looking for him during lunch for help on homework but he's never there. So I asked the other teachers and they said he always eats lunch off campus." She paused for a moment, contemplating the second half of Sora's words. "So no, I don't stalk him."

"Hmm, alright," Sora said. "I'm kinda glad that you don't."

"And what would me stalking Mr. Strife have to do with you?"

"Well, that stalking thing's kinda creepy. We're friends, and I don't like the thought of having a friend who stalks people."

She blinked. Friend. For some reason, her mind hadn't quite processed the fact that they were friends. She supposed they were; she just never used that label to define their relationship. Friends. She liked that thought. Not mere acquaintances, but friends.

"Well, then rest assured," she said. "I have much better things to do than stalk teachers."

"Oh? Such as?"

She didn't know when, but Sora had gotten her nose out of her book. And though she usually didn't talk to him outside of media studies class, the walk after class, and the weekly weekend hour, she found herself quickly growing comfortable chatting with him in the lockers. It really didn't matter where she was—what mattered was who she was with. She found herself falling back into a regular pattern of casual conversation with Sora about whatever topic he brought up—or she had. And while she knew there were curious stares in her direction, for once, she didn't mind. She cherished their friendship enough to not care about the rumors or gossip that may start because of this. She wasn't going to stop talking with him just because people may think of them the wrong way. In fact, just to defy them, she'd keep on talking to him.

"So, before I forget, I was gonna ask you something. Since this morning. I can't believe it kept on getting delayed till now."

Naminé blinked. "Wait, didn't you ask me already? You said to tell Mr. Strife that you wouldn't go to class." She furrowed her eyebrows. "So are you not coming tomorrow?"

"Huh? What? No, that's not it." Sora paused and recollected his thoughts. "Oh. That just happened to come up since Coach just sent out a mass text. I was gonna ask you the real thing but then the text distracted me and I had to go." He laughed. "If I was gonna ask you for that, I would've just texted you."

"You don't have my number."

"Oh yes I do." Huh? She didn't remember giving it to him. "I asked one of the girls in media studies class for it, since it seemed handy if I needed to ask homework. I just never needed to call you yet."

Ah. So she was his self-appointed media studies homework tutor.

"So, that aside, there's something I really wanted to ask you…" She could feel her cheeks heating up. This was it, wasn't it? This was the same scenario that occurred in every teen romance novel she read. There was no mistaking it. He was gonna ask her out.

Wait, pause for a moment, her rational mind thought. Why would he ask?

They are close friends now, her optimistic mind reasoned. Why wouldn't he ask?

It's just—they really aren't that close, if you think about it. And he's never shown much interest in _that_ sort of relationship development with Naminé. Maybe you're just overthinking this all.

No, don't be such a pessimistic. All the factors for this type of situation have been established! Prolonged friendship, comfort in the presence of the other, knowledge of each others' lives, and—what more do you want?

Just be realistic. How long have you actually known each other? A month at most. That's a pretty short period of time. And are you really comfortable in the presence of each other? You may be, but that's because you're letting Sora lead the conversation all the time. Maybe he hates leading the conversation. And plus, how well do you really know each other? He may know a little about you, but besides his sister Xion attending your mother's sessions, which was not even a secret he told you voluntarily, what do you know about him? He a senior? He plays soccer? Please, half the school knows that. Don't build your hopes up for nothing.

Stop being so skeptical! This is the start of a budding romance! Everything has to start from something. And from the something the two of them already have, they can start a relationship! Yes, they may not know each other as long as Sora's known Kairi, but that just takes time. And of course she doesn't know everything about him, or else they'd be married. So, shut your cynical—umm, _rational_ side and just let your mind think of the best situation possible. Be free to think whatever you wish it may be!

"Naminé?" She blinked. She hadn't thought she could stage a mock debate inside her mind between her optimistic/idealistic and realistic/pessimistic side. And that had gone on in her head in a matter of seconds. The human mind was amazing. As she extracted herself from that thought, she looked up at Sora's eyes.

"Yes?"

"Do you have time today afterschool?"

She gulped. His word choice was not helping the hopeless romantic in her from squealing in anticipation. "Yes," she responded evenly.

Sora grinned. "So, would you like to—"

"Sora! What are you still doing here? Your next class starts in two minutes." Naminé resisted a scowl—really? Wasn't there a better time for someone to interrupt?—and looked up to see Kairi. The blonde immediately froze and watched as Kairi's eyes darted from Sora to Naminé.

"Oh shoot," Sora exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "We're gonna be later for class! Thanks Kairi. You should go eat lunch," Sora added. The redhead eyed them cautiously and Naminé observed she did not leave. Sora extended an arm to Naminé and the blonde received it graciously to rise to a standing position.

"So, Naminé, would you like to—"

Her heart pounded. She felt a smile creeping up her face. Her mind imagined multiple scenarios—

"—come watch our game?"

—well, of course he'd pay for the dinner, and…wait, what?

Her mind was still registering his question as she gazed in his large blue irises. She didn't know if he was playing her or if God was playing her, but she wouldn't let either get the satisfaction of seeing her lose control.

"Of course." Actually, that wasn't the best answer. She really didn't want to go. But she just told him she was free afterschool so she really dug herself a hole. She turned to look at Kairi to see if she had a part in this. Kairi was looking at Sora, so Naminé turned her attention back to the seemingly oblivious brunet.

"Great! Alright, see you then!" With a smile and a cheery wave, Sora was off to class and Kairi had gone to lunch as well.

So her rationality was right. She was just overthinking everything. She was just letting her hopes get up for nothing. Of course, there was no reason Sora would ask her out. They did barely know each other. Besides accidentally charging into his personal life regarding the matter with Xion, she knew next to nothing about him and his family. Unlike Kairi. Kairi probably knew Sora inside out like a glove. What was Naminé? A one-month acquaintance at best.

She had to keep on reminding herself of this fact to quell the ridiculous romantic fantasies of her mind.

* * *

**A/N:** Naminé, Naminé. The hopeful fantasies of a teenage romantic. Quite a common thing in high school, I bet. There are rarely the types of love in which one party confesses and the other party does not see it coming at all. But there's always people who read too far between the lines.

Sorry for the delay, but summer's ending and I was off at a volunteer site without internet access last week. Many thanks to my reviewers, especially **Jomatto **for leaving reviews for every chapter **plus** concrit. Every bit of feedback is much appreciated!

So I can't say when I'll update next, but hopefully senior year will be manageable. Till next time then! Please leave a review with feedback and thoughts!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter SEVEN**

The last two periods of class passed by rather quickly, to Naminé's dismay. She dreaded attending the soccer game afterschool. She knew that many people were attending, since Pallad High was playing against Fatum High. Both high schools were known for their outstanding soccer teams, so everyone was sure this was going to be an exciting match.

Naminé's problem was that she didn't know where she was supposed to sit. Sora had invited her, but he'd be playing so she obviously couldn't sit near him. As she retrieved her textbooks stored in her locker, she pondered this question. She briefly considered just skipping the game altogether but was immediately stopped by her conscience. She'd promised, after all.

She sighed. She supposed she could just sit in a small corner among the bleachers by herself. It'd be slightly embarrassing, but the only reason she was going was because she'd told Sora she'd be there, not to show school spirit or hangout with friends or anything.

Naminé arrived at the soccer court fairly early, but the bleachers were already flooded with students. She could see Pallad High's soccer team warming up on the fields. Sora was chatting with the coach about something, while the other players were stretching their limbs. Naminé was about to sit down when she heard a voice call her.

"Hey, Naminé! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Naminé turned towards the source of the voice and spotted a familiar brunette. She immediately identified the girl as Olette Belmont. A rather intelligent girl in her grade, Olette was in many classes with Naminé. The two were somewhat friends in Naminé's opinion. Olette was bright and cheerful, very sociable and always on top of things. They sometimes chatted or did projects together in their shared world history class.

"Hey Olette," Naminé greeted with a smile. Following behind Olette was, to Naminé's surprise, Hayner. Now that she recalled, she had seen Olette and Hayner together occasionally along with another portly boy who was currently absent. She perhaps just never made the connection in her mind that her partner in world history class was friends with the brash guy in media studies.

"I didn't think I'd see you here," Olette repeated. "I've never seen you at any sports games. Are you interested in soccer or are you here to watch someone?"

"Umm, watch someone, you could say," Naminé replied. Olette nodded. She had a grin on her face but she didn't ask further.

"Oh! Totally forgot to introduce you guys. Naminé, this is Hayner. Hayner, this is Naminé."

"Yeah, I know her," Hayner said. "We share a class."

"Oh, you guys do?" Olette asked, intrigued. "What class?"

"Media studies," Naminé offered.

Olette nodded. "Oh. I see. Well, that's great! You here with anyone, Naminé?" Olette asked. The blonde shook her head. "Then do you want to sit with us? The more the merrier, after all."

What Naminé loved the most about Olette was the girl's tact. The brunette was very respectful of others and was very skilled with handling her words so as to not harm anyone's dignity. At the same time, Olette was so bright and cheery. The girl's ebullient personality was dazzling sometimes.

"If I won't be a bother," Naminé said. Olette shook her head and exclaimed "Nonsense!" before leading the way to empty seats that had an ideal view of the field. Naminé could clearly discern the features on the players' faces. The players of Fatum High had just arrived, decked in their school's yellow uniforms. They clashed with the dark green hues of Pallad High.

"So do you come to the soccer games often? I said I've never seen you, but maybe I just didn't see you the times you came," Olette asked as the three settled in their seats.

"Oh, no. This is the first soccer game I've attended." Naminé winced. She sounded like a total loser. But Olette seemed to disregard any implications Naminé had conjured in her mind and nodded.

"You said you're here to see someone. Care to tell me who?" The very end of Olette's words had a tinge of amusement laced between, exuding her curiosity but respect for privacy.

"Well," Naminé began nervously, "I was invited by a friend to come watch…" Naminé winced at her word choice. Was Sora a friend? "It's, umm, Sora…" she trailed off, slightly embarrassed at admitting her reason for coming.

"Sora Hikaru?" Olette exclaimed. "No way, he invited you to come? You know him? Wow, Naminé, you're so popular!" Olette teased. Naminé felt her cheeks blushing and smiled sheepishly. Olette continued talking. "Well, he's the main scorer for our team—"

"The word's striker."

"I knew that," Olette shot at Hayner. "So, Sora's the main striker for Pallad High—"

"Not main. Just striker."

"Seriously, Hayner?" Olette groaned. "You're only such a grammar Nazi when it comes to soccer."

"Hey, I can't help it!" Hayner exclaimed, raising his hands submissively. "I used to play!"

"Then why'd you give up?" Olette asked. Hayner had no response and Olette smiled victoriously. She punched his shoulder lightly, and Hayner grinned too, any tension between them instantly relieved. Nonetheless, they continued their argument that had strayed off on a tangent.

Naminé watched their interaction with immense interest. She was seeing a completely different side of Hayner. The Hayner in media studies class was loud, brash, and obnoxious. This Hayner, while arguing with Olette, was relatively good mannered and easygoing. He was smiling the entire time, the occasional laugh escaping his lips. Well, everyone acted differently when with friends.

"Can we stop talking about this?" Hayner said. It was obvious he was losing the argument horribly. Naminé wasn't sure what they were arguing about now but the range of topics they'd covered was vast. Olette responded with a nod and returned back to Naminé.

"Sorry for ignoring you like that," Olette said. "Even Pence says when me and Hayner get in an argument, we completely zone out into our own worlds."

"No, you guys were interesting," Naminé said truthfully. "So are you guys childhood friends?"

"Well, we've known each other for a long time…" Olette began.

"Since fifth grade," Hayner supplied.

"Wow," Naminé said. Fifth grade. That was…seven years. "That's long!"

"Sometimes, I don't even know how I put up with him all the time," Olette said.

"Hey! You were this total uptight control freak before you met me. I bring out the good in you," Hayner declared.

"Yeah right. If anything, I brought out the responsible, considerate side in you. Otherwise, you would've always been this dangerous-looking guy no one approaches."

"I—I don't look dangerous!"

"You do! Ask Naminé."

"Huh?" Naminé asked, the conversation suddenly veered towards her. Both Olette and Hayner were looking at her with immense interest in her response. "Umm…" she mumbled, wondering what exactly she was supposed to say in a situation like this. "S—so, Hayner just looks…tough?"

Olette and Hayner blinked, settling back in their seats. "Naminé's just nice," Olette said, mirth in her tone.

"Not really," Naminé said.

"She's soft-spoken," Hayner said. Naminé blinked. She didn't know Hayner used big words like that. Well, that sounded kind of offensive. She just meant Hayner usually used simpler diction.

"Anyways, look! They're starting!" Olette exclaimed, pointing at the field. Naminé's attention followed the direction of the girl's finger towards the players that were positioning themselves on the field. The blonde didn't play the sport but she understood the very basics: get the ball into the opponent's goal. And a few roles that the players played.

The whistle blew and the game began. Pallad High started and brought the ball down the field. The thing Naminé disliked about soccer was that it was slow-paced. The ball went from one end of the field to the other, then back again, without a point being scored. However, that did build up the tension greatly whenever the ball approached either goal.

"Corner kick!" the referee announced, as a Fatum High blond positioned himself at the corner. He drew his leg back and kicked the ball, sending it soaring through the air towards one of his teammates. Thankfully, a Pallad High player intercepted the ball.

"Yes!" Olette cheered.

"C'mon, let's go!" Hayner exclaimed.

Naminé also grinned. It was like letting out a breath of relief as the ball was kicked forward.

"Hell yeah, go Sora!" Hayner cheered. Naminé watched as the ball flew above the heads of the opponents that had swarmed to offense, reaching the feet of a conveniently open Sora. He easily caught the ball between his feet and rapidly began dribbling with it down the field. As the cheers in the audience stands grew louder, Naminé could also feel herself grow excited as well. Just from watching, there was such an adrenaline rush. She wondered what it was like for the actual players on the field.

"Yeah, fake it!" Olette exclaimed as Sora reached a defender. They struggled for the ball for a while until Sora managed to bring the ball past the defender. The cheers of the Pallad High fans immediately heightened as Sora approached the next defender.

"I bet he'll make a goal this time," Hayner said confidently.

"I don't think so," Olette said. "He took too long getting past that defender just now. The opponent's players are rushing back to defense."

"But our forward players are also going to assist Sora. Yeah, I think he'll score."

"Bet on it?" Olette proposed.

"Ice cream afterwards. Whoever loses pays."

"Naminé included."

"Game on."

Naminé turned hesitantly between the two childhood friends. A competitive yet friendly air shrouded the two, and Naminé eventually settled with a content grin. Their relationship was so good that they could balance these types of rivalries with friendly bantering. It was so enviable—something that seemed perfect, like relationships rhapsodized in stories.

Naminé watched as Sora passed the ball to a teammate and the two continued to maintain the distance between them as they progressed down the field. After a series of passes and maneuvers, Pallad High finally scored—Naminé recognized the scoring player as Tidus.

"Yes, he scored!" Hayner exclaimed, cheering.

"So? We bet on whether or not Sora would score," Olette argued.

"What? No, we were just betting on whether or not our team would score this round."

"No, it was obvious we were gonna score—we had such a far lead. We were betting on if Sora would be the one to kick the score-making goal."

Before Naminé knew it, the duo was arguing over the terms of their bet. She tuned in and out of their conversation as she watched the players on the field. The Pallad High players eagerly swamped Tidus and offered him high-fives and chest bumps. Fatum High grumbled a little and got back in their positions at the center of the field. Naminé spotted Sora, who was among the players complimenting Tidus. Tidus managed to maintain a balance between swagger and modesty while returning to the middle of the field.

The game went back and forth for another thirty minutes until it reached halftime. The score was 1-1, a stalemate after Fatum High scored one point just a few minutes before the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. Pallad High's players were obviously affected by that last shot as they listened to their coach yell out criticism and advice for the upcoming match.

"Wow. That was unexpected," Olette said. "Great, we're tied now. I'm back to being all jittery."

"You're always jittery," Hayner scoffed. "But I think our team still has the chance to win."

"I'm not always jittery," Olette returned. "And yeah, if they outrun Fatum High, they can still win."

"Yes you are. I know for a fact that the soccer guys went through rigorous conditioning training over the summer."

"Can we stop talking about me? So for sure they'll win."

"You started it. And if they have the will."

Naminé blinked, disconcerted again. Olette and Hayner seemed to had just held two conversations simultaneously with each other. It was amazing how fast their brains worked to keep up with two different topics. This was probably the result of seven years of friendship.

"Oh, they're going back on!" Olette exclaimed. Indeed, the Pallad High players filed back onto the field and assumed their positions. Naminé held a breath as the referee blew the whistle.

The rest of the game proved Pallad High's obvious advantage in endurance. Fatum High's players gradually grew slower and slower, unwilling to chase after faraway balls and distant shots. Pallad High's players pushed through and sprinted with all their might. The game eventually ended 2-1, Pallad High's victory.

"I knew it! We won!" Olette exclaimed. Hayner grinned as well, standing up to cheer for Pallad High with the roaring crowd. Naminé nervously got to her feet as well, unwilling to be the only one on the bleachers sitting. The scene was endearing. The players were huddling together and celebrating their victory, while the audience was just as happy for their team's triumph. So this was what school spirit looked like.

The noise died down and the fans began to either file out of the bleachers or approach the victorious players. Just as Naminé was about to leave with Olette and Hayner, a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey, Naminé!" The blonde, recognizing the voice like the back of her hand, turned around to face one perspiring Sora with a glow from the game. His tanned skin was glistening with sweat and his jersey was soaked, but the smile on his face proved his obvious love for the sport.

"Hi, Sora," she greeted nervously. She still wasn't quite sure how she should interact with him in public. It was kind of weird—or maybe, she was thinking too much. She should just act like she usually does…right?

"You actually came! For a moment, I wondered if you would back out," Sora said with a teasing grin.

"I promised you, after all," Naminé said evenly. "You were great out there. Congratulations!"

"Yeah, thanks," he said, a laugh rising from his throat. Naminé observed the brunet carefully. Though he was conversing with her, his eyes constantly roamed around, as if looking for something or someone.

She whirled her head around to see why he was constantly staring at something behind her. Her eyes widened at the sight—it was the cheerleaders. More specifically, the one Sora was probably staring at was a certain glowing redhead peering in the same direction.

Sora seemed to notice that Naminé had realized who he was staring at. "Err, yeah, there's the cheerleaders! Their cheers were pretty amazing this game," Sora said lamely. Naminé bit back a sarcastic remark and instead smiled, humming her assent. The conversation died down, and Naminé fidgeted awkwardly, her eyes drifting to the ground. When she looked up at Sora again, she realized he was still staring at Kairi. A pit of anger rose in her stomach—she and he were talking, for goodness' sake. If he just wanted to stare at Kairi, why did he bother striking a conversation with her?

"Hey!" Sora's voice drew her attention back to him. She found herself staring at his big blue eyes, peering at her with curiosity. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"Now?" Naminé considered the question. Hayner and Olette had left already, so she was probably going home. "Home, I suppose," she said.

"What? You're such a buzzkill!" Sora said. "C'mon, we should all go get pizza or something! I'm starving!"

"You're starving, Sora?" A new voice joined the conversation—Kairi. Naminé turned to observe the social dynamics at hand. Behind Kairi was a bunch of cheerleaders, not the entire group but a few closer friends, presumably. They were eagerly chatting among themselves, some staring and giggling at Sora, others watching the scene between the two ex-lovers unfold.

"Hey Kairi. Yeah, I was asking Naminé if she wanted to join us to go get pizza."

"…oh," Kairi said, her voice falling flat. "Well, that sounds like a good idea! Can we come along?" she asked, gesturing towards herself and the smiling girls behind her. Naminé was overwhelmed by the sudden presence of all these strangers but Sora took it all in stride, grinning and nodding excitedly. Naminé looked towards Sora worriedly, hoping he'd catch onto her discomfort, but he was oblivious to her while he chatted enthusiastically with Kairi.

"S—Sora," she stuttered, trying to catch his attention. He stopped his conversation with Kairi and turned towards her.

"Yeah?"

"I—I think I'll go home. I don't really feel like eating now," she said. She finished her thought and waited for his reply, which, to her horror, didn't come for a full minute. She could feel his scrutinizing gaze on her, along with the glances of all the other girls present.

"C'mon," one of the cheerleaders said, "let's just all go! Don't be a loner."

"Yeah, we're just gonna go hangout. You don't have to eat if you don't want to."

"Just come on. Don't be such a loser."

Naminé bit the bottom of her tongue. It was easy for them to say, but she knew no one here except for Sora and, arguably, Kairi. She really didn't want to go. She could already picture herself nervously sitting between two random cheerleaders watching them chat about some inane subject over her.

"If she doesn't want to come, don't force her," Kairi said. The cheerleaders turned towards her and considered her point.

"Naminé, you can go home then," Sora said. "Kairi, let's go. Pizza awaits!" Naminé watched as the crowd left ahead of her, some looking back to throw pitiful glances. She watched until they turned around a corner and were out of sight.

She sank to her knees, biting the bottom of her lip.

This was not how she foresaw things would turn out. Sora had brusquely shoved her off for—what, food? Kairi? He hadn't even tried to convince her to go or showed a hint of concern. She chuckled morosely to herself. Ah, that was it. Because in the end, she was nothing on his social radar, a mere speck on the very borders that didn't warrant much of his attention. Naminé shook her head. She was getting caught up in the social scene again. These changing variables were disrupting her life. They had falsely told her that she was someone to Sora. In his eyes, she was probably forever second to Kairi. After all, the redhead wasn't only his ex-, she was also his childhood friend. They had every right to care immensely for each other.

Now that she thought about it, Kairi seemed to be present during many of her encounters with Sora outside of media studies class and the weekly sessions. Sora had stumbled upon her and Kairi's argument, and when he was asking her to the game (she was _so_, so stupid), Kairi was there too. Plus, just now, she eventually came along. In fact, Naminé had a feeling Sora had talked to her to make Kairi jealous.

—wait, was that it? He was using her to make Kairi jealous?

A sinking feeling in her stomach repulsed her. Was she a tool to him? She hated this self-disgust that he had instigated in her. Was she just a pawn in his game? What was she to him? Not even a human? The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She was nothing to him. She was just there to get Kairi jealous. Naminé had no evidence, but her mind was whirling with the idea, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. Well, if that were the case, then she'd relegate Sora to a mere acquaintance-level individual as well. Cause this was probably the only way for her to cushion her gradual, slow-moving heartbreak.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the extended wait! Finally here's Chapter Seven. Our plot's developing along, and hopefully you can see the lovely Namora interaction! I'll try to get out Chapter Eight in two weeks, but no guarantees since it's senior year. Until then, enjoy this chapter!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter EIGHT**

"And the last group is Sora and Naminé."

The blonde mentally balked. Luck just had to have it that she was paired with him for a project. After her decision to ignore the flutters in her stomach and shivers up her spine every time Sora talked to her, it seemed like reality was out there to prove her resolve could not last. Because seriously, when were emotions controllable?

The brown-haired boy on her side shot her a charming smile—and when did she even begin to see him in this new light? High school crushes were so troublesome.

"Finally, we're partners for a project! I was thinking what were the odds that we'd never get the chance to work together." He was all smiles and sunshine, as usual. Naminé smiled in response to his enthusiasm.

"Class, listen please." Mr. Strife's voice drew the attention of the rowdy students. "The assignment is quite simple. You are to choose from one of the films on the list that's on the paper passed out to you and conduct a thorough analysis of it, using everything we've learned in class so far. There are some questions to guide your analysis but I would like to see where your inductive skills bring you. Presentations are in a week, so prepare well."

After Mr. Strife finished is words, the students began pairing off in their groups to begin on their project. Similarly, Sora turned immediately towards Naminé, prodding the blonde with a finger.

"So, any plans on what to do?" he asked.

Naminé considered the question for awhile. She scanned through the list of movies that Mr. Strife had provided and narrowed down on one particular.

"Let's do _Entrapped in Castle Oblivion_," she said. After a moment of silence in which Sora failed to respond, Naminé looked up from her paper. "What do you think?" she asked pointedly.

Sora grinned. "Wow, for once you've explicitly expressed an opinion. I was wondering how long you could stay passive," he said. His jocular tone told her of the nature of his tease.

"Has anyone ever told you you're very funny?" Naminé commented dryly. Secretly, she wondered if she was being too forthright. She'd been trying to, in some sense, 'act normal' in front of Sora. She didn't want to suddenly extract herself from his life—he'd definitely notice. But perhaps she was putting too much effort into not acting any different that she was in fact acting very abnormally.

That made much more sense in her own mind. Whatever.

They tried to work on the project for the rest of the class but a combination of anticipation for lunch and loud shouts from Hayner's group distracted them from accomplishing much. Naminé sighed as the bell rang. They had decided on a film and some aspects of analysis. Ah well, they had a week, so they should be fine. Sticking to their normal routine, Naminé and Sora left the classroom together, approaching the locker area.

"I think we should work together on this sometime outside of school, cause we aren't really productive in class," Sora commented as they strolled down the hall, backpacks in hand. "And, we should watch the movie. When are you free?" he asked.

Naminé was slightly surprised by his proposition but nodded readily, agreeing to his words. "Any day is fine with me. What about you? I know you have soccer practice afterschool," she said.

"Yeah. How about today afterschool? It's Friday, and I have no plans. I have the movie at my house. I'll try to get out of soccer early but no guarantees." Sora's plan seemed pretty foolproof. But…

"Oh, you don't have to sacrifice your soccer practice. I can just wait," Naminé said.

"Are you sure? It's not that hard for me to think of an excuse." The blonde could tell Sora was just being polite, so she insisted on her point.

"I'm _sure_ everyone in the team will just look up to you even more if you do that. Really, go to practice. I know it's very important to you," Naminé said.

Sora grinned. "Thanks Naminé. So around 4:30 at the school gate?" he suggested.

"Sure. See you then." With that, they reached their lockers and dispersed for the rest of the day.

The afternoon passed quickly for Naminé—one class was a relatively easy test while the other was an engaging film. At the end of the day, Naminé waited patiently at the school gate for Sora. It was slightly past their rendezvous time, but she understood he was preoccupied with something important to him.

"Hey! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Sora exclaimed. He dashed over from around the corner of the building, sweat dripping from his chin. He was dressed in a casual t-shirt and shorts, his cheeks flushed a faint red and a pair of soccer cleats donning his feet. He had obviously rushed immediately out of practice.

"Why didn't you take a shower and change?" Naminé asked. "We're not in a rush or anything."

"But I didn't want to keep you waiting." It took all Naminé had to suppress the part of her heart doing somersaults and maintain a passive countenance on her face. Darn him and the way he slips those charming words into his speech.

"Well, let's go then," Sora said, oblivious to Naminé's silence. He adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder. "My house is just a ten minute's walk."

"So you live right next to the school?"

"Yeah. On Wave Boulevard, in fact. So I don't have to take the bus every morning."

"Taking the bus actually helps me arrive on time to school. Otherwise I'm pretty sure I'll sleep till the very last second and dash out of the house with minutes till school starts."

Sora laughed. "True. Xion has to drag me out of bed every morning cause I hate getting up."

"So you're not a morning person?"

"You can definitely say that."

They continued walking for awhile, engaging in casual conversation. Soon, they arrived at Sora's house. It was a typical two-story building with fading alabaster wallpaper and a picture perfect front porch. Sora walked up to the gate and unlocked it with his keys, letting himself and Naminé in.

The front door flew open before either teen reached the porch. Out came Xion, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans. "Sora! And your friend! Hello!"

Xion was unexpectedly cheerful. Sora seemed to disregard her enthusiasm while Naminé managed a small smile and wave. Xion continued leaping about the house as she followed the two teens in, chattering about whatever inane subject came to her mind. It helped fill in the silence as Naminé observed the house's décor and Sora put down his stuff.

"C'mon, let's just work on the project here," Sora said, gesturing towards the dining table. "There's the most space here. My room's, err, a bit messy."

"Trust me, you don't wanna see his room," Xion piped in.

Naminé took a seat at the dining table and the two set about on their project, searching up facts and background information online. After establishing the context, they found Sora's copy of the movie and settled down in the living room, popping the DVD into the DVD player and waiting for the screen to flicker to life.

"Want any food? We have chips, ice cream, popcorn…" Sora trailed off, flipping through the drawers in the kitchen for snacks. Naminé's eyes strayed towards a family portrait propped on the mantle. There was a man with his arm wrapped lovingly around a woman's waist, and in front of them were two familiar children—Sora and Xion. Both had jubilant expressions and wide smiles etched on their faces. While they were still just as enthusiastic now, time had changed them somewhat. Sora's energy now seemed at times forced, while Xion's had an underlying current of cynicism.

"Here." Sora passed her a bowl of nacho chips. "Since I know girls are all obsessed with their figures."

"I have a small appetite, so I tend to get full quick. Though my mom says my metabolism is quick…" Naminé said. However, she graciously accepted the bowl.

"Oh." Sora didn't seem to understand what she'd just said. She chuckled at his clueless expression. "Err, anyways, so you eat nacho chips right? I have salsa somewhere, but I can't find it—"

"Mom threw it away. It was expired," Xion piped in.

"Expired stuff is still edible—wait, Xion, why are you still here? Don't you have homework?"

"It's Friday, dummy. No one does homework on Friday."

"Except us," Naminé pointed out.

Sora then turned towards Naminé and turned back towards Xion. "Did I ever officially introduce you two?"

"No," Xion said, while Naminé shook her head.

"My bad," Sora said. "Xion, Naminé. Naminé, Xion. Really, I'm, like, the worst at doing introductions."

"You should at least say who she is to you. She probably knows I'm your sister, but I have no idea who she is. For all I know, you guys could be friends with benefits."

"Xion!" Sora exclaimed. Naminé felt her cheeks flush at the mere suggestion of something so scandalous. Was Xion always so open-minded and candid with her thoughts? Or was did she genuinely believe that? Xion was somewhat of a mystery to Naminé.

"Alright, my bad. But you were kinda looking for it," Xion said with a grin. She took a sip from her glass of water. "So who is she then?"

"She's just Naminé. We're in the same media class."

"Ah. That's it?"

"That's it."

"You sure?"

"Ask Naminé."

"Naminé?"

"Umm, that's it. Or what are you looking for…?"

Xion scrutinized her for a moment, and to Naminé's own surprise, the blonde held the stare. Probably because she didn't want to lose to a twelve- or thirteen-year-old youngster. Finally Xion removed her glare and settled her eyes back on the television screen. No words were exchanged, so Naminé remained quiet as well. They watched the movie quietly, Xion occasionally making a remark about the dramatic irony until Sora shushed her and the film continued. The storyline was quite engaging and even suspenseful at times. As the tension mounted and the movie played an eerie tune, the sudden knock on the door startled Naminé into literally jumping out of her seat.

Sora chuckled. "You okay?" he asked while reaching to pause the movie. It stopped right before the protagonist opened the door that would determine his destiny. Naminé grinned sheepishly and nodded while clutching on a pillow in her hands. Sora laughed aloud and got up to see who was at the door. Naminé heard the door creak as it opened and low mumbles followed.

"Yeah, I'm back early." Naminé turned around in surprise to face Roxas. What was he doing here? Oh right—he was Sora's cousin. She supposed contact between them two wasn't unnatural.

"That's great—we were just watching a movie," Sora said, gesturing towards Naminé and Xion. While the blonde smiled and waved back, Xion was lying on the ground on a pillow, daydreaming or otherwise zoning out.

"Actually, your mom and dad are outside waiting for you. They said they want to bring you somewhere," Roxas said.

There was a moment of silence in the house that Naminé couldn't comprehend. Roxas' words seemed completely normal but obviously there was more behind the story. Sora nodded tersely and grabbed a jacket for the cold and at times capricious weather of Destiny Islands. "Do me a favor and stay with my sis and Naminé until I get back."

"No can do. I got errands to run."

"It's fucking 8:00. I'm sure whatever errands you've got can be left till tomorrow."

Naminé blanched. Sora had cursed. It was strange hearing such strident syllables escape his lips. It was in large contrast to his usual cheerful demeanor. The two cousins engaged in an intense staring contest for awhile before Roxas yielded and seated himself on the floor a few feet from Naminé. The door creaked as it opened and then shut loudly.

Silence. This was unexpected.

"Fuck," Roxas cursed quietly. He readjusted his position to stretch his legs. Curiously, he peered at Naminé's direction. "You're Naminé, right?" A tentative smile stretched across his face.

"Yeah," she whispered. "You're Roxas, right?"

Roxas grinned. "Yeah." He didn't say anything else as he turned towards the television and resumed the movie. The rest of the time passed by in silence. It was a peaceful silence though. While Sora had the ability to make people feel at ease with his incessant chatter, Roxas could soothe a crowd with his mere presence. It was the type of silence that made you want to relish and appreciate the moment of tranquility in your otherwise hectic life.

"So you two are working on a project?"

"Yeah. It's for media class."

"Ah. So you're supposed to watch a film?"

"And provide analysis of it. It's not that hard."

"Yeah, doesn't sound hard." Pause. "Xion, what are you doing?"

"Trying to secretly shoot a picture of you two but it keeps on blurring."

"Why are you—never mind, I've already stopped questioning some stuff you do. Are you still on that ridiculous diet?"

Naminé blinked. Roxas treated Xion's…condition so lightly? And mentioning it in front of a girl he'd met just minutes ago…was he just ignorant or not aware? Worriedly, she turned towards Xion.

Xion seemed rather unperturbed. "It's not ridiculous. I'm fat."

"Please, let's not do this," Roxas said. "You're one of the skinniest girls I know, if not the skinniest. You're starting to look like a skeleton."

"Well—" Xion puffed her cheeks, "there's this girl at school skinnier than me."

"Genetics. Can't do anything about that."

"I can! I can continue dieting—"

"Really, Xion. You should know how seriously everyone is treating your condition. If you eat some, they'll stop hounding you."

"And then the psychologist will be all, 'I told you so, I'm right, she's fricking anorexic' when I don't have a damn problem!"

Naminé coughed, unintentionally bringing the attention onto her.

"Sorry you had to hear that," Roxas said, though his voice wasn't really apologetic but more apathetic, as if he were reciting lines.

"N—no, it's okay. I understand. Every family has its own story," Naminé said.

"There's a Chinese saying for that," Xion piped in.

"Is there? Are you learning Chinese?" Naminé asked, glad for a change in topic.

"No. But my friend is Chinese and she loves spouting random proverbs."

"Like?"

"There's a stupid one that goes 'there's a sky outside every sky.'"

"What does that mean?" Roxas asked, joining the conversation.

"Well, it continues on to say 'there's someone above everyone.' So there's no best in the world."

"But technically there has to be a best somewhere," Roxas reasoned. "Like the pinnacle of talent in one particular area."

"It's a Chinese proverb, Roxas," Naminé said, grinning. "Cut it some slack."

Roxas grinned. "I suppose Confucius hundreds of years ago probably reached some sort of epiphany that's different from three teens brainstorming over popcorn."

"Damn, I want popcorn," Xion said.

"Help yourself," Roxas said.

"You are impossible. Didn't I just explain why I can't eat popcorn?" Xion said.

"Oh. Right. Sure, whatever you say." Roxas dropped his hand offering the popcorn and turned back towards Naminé. "So you just need to watch the movie?"

"Yeah," Naminé said.

"What? So why am I even here?" There was a playful tone in his words, reassuring Naminé that he did not intend to actually leave.

"I dunno; ask yourself," Xion said. "Can you stop eating the popcorn? It's really distracting."

"What am I distracting you from?" Roxas bit back a curse. "Sorry, somehow the topic keeps swerving away from you. Go on, Naminé."

"Yeah, my bad. I tend to prattle sometimes," Xion said.

"Sometimes? I should say—"

"See, now you're the one changing subjects. And you said I did."

"Well—okay, sorry Naminé. So do you need me to be here?"

"Umm, actually, not really. I don't know…I mean, do you know where Sora went?" she asked.

Silence. She had obviously touched a sore spot. Roxas and Xion nervously looked towards each other, having a silent exchange. Naminé waited patiently for whatever they would tell her.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Roxas conceded. "His family is a bit…dysfunctional? I suppose that would be a bit too extreme…I really don't know. Xion, any light to shed on the situation?"

"It's actually a mystery to me as well," the black-haired girl confessed. "Sora keeps going places with my parents these days, and I'm never allowed to come along. Of course, they tell me stuff like 'do your homework' or 'it's just a waste of time' and 'we'll be back soon' but they never actually say what they're going to do. I mean, if Sora can go, then definitely I can go, right?" The end of her explanation turned out as a rant, but Naminé nodded, absorbing the information.

"I see…so it must be tough for all of you then," she said sympathetically. "I just want to help him, since he's normally so happy but I'm sure somewhere deep down he's struggling with something too…wait, umm, why are you guys looking at me like that?" Naminé said, feeling her cheeks grow red as she grew self-conscious of the two's staring. Xion had wide eyes while Roxas had a smug smile.

"Wait, you like my brother?" Xion asked excitedly.

"N—no!" Naminé exclaimed. "It's just—we're friends!"

"You seem really intent on helping him though as 'just a friend.'" Roxas didn't actually verbalize them, but Naminé could hear the quotation marks around the words 'just a friend.'

"You don't understand!" Naminé exclaimed. "I mean, Sora's nice and all, but we're just friends…if we're even that."

"Why would you say that?" Roxas's tone had gotten a good degree lighter.

"I…I don't know. Stuff is complicated," Naminé said.

"That's cause you're keeping it to yourself. Tell us," Xion said. Her last two words weren't really a command or statement; they were a gentle recommendation, suggesting solace found in disclosure.

"W—well…" Naminé wasn't quite comfortable sharing her very personal feelings with a boy she only somewhat knew and a girl who was the younger sister of the source of her troubles.

"We don't want to force you, Naminé," Roxas said, "but sometimes sharing helps. That's just my suggestion," Roxas said.

"Well, umm…" She really didn't want to share but Roxas and Xion were looking at her expectantly.

Thank goodness her phone saved her. The nameless tune rang through the air and Naminé smiled apologetically, retrieving the phone in her pocket. She checked the caller I.D.—_Home_—and picked up.

"Mom?" Naminé asked.

"Naminé? Where are you? You left a voicemail saying you'd be home late but didn't say when."

"Oh, sorry," Naminé said. "I'm at Sora's house. We're watching a movie for a project."

"Ah, Sora? He's the Xion's brother, the one who comes to our sessions, right?"

"Yes…" Naminé answered warily, wondering where her mother was going with this. There was a moment of silence before her mother spoke again.

"Alright. Just call me when you need to come home because it's getting dark."

"Okay. Thanks Mom."

"I love you. Bye-bye."

"Bye."

Naminé hung up on the call and found both Roxas and Xion staring at her, intrigued.

"Umm, sorry about that. It was my mom."

"You don't need to go or anything, right?" Xion asked.

"No, I just forgot to tell her where I am and when I'm coming home. My mom doesn't really enforce a curfew."

"Lucky," Roxas commented. "My mom forces me home everyday by 10:00." Naminé chuckled—she usually never stayed out past 10:00 anyways.

"I'm bored," Xion said bluntly.

"Find something to do then," Roxas said. He turned towards Naminé. "Do you want to keep watching the film?"

"No, it's okay. I've actually watched the film before," Naminé confessed. Sadly, she was still frightened by certain scenes.

"Oh, you've watched it? So you just agreed to watch it with Sora, eh?" Xion teased. Naminé looked down shyly and stuttered some sort of excuse, at which Roxas and Xion could only laugh.

"At least you're honest about it," Roxas said. "There used to be some girls who pretended they had no interest in my brother but then turned around saying that they fell in love with him at first sight." The blond boy stifled a laugh. "That was hilarious. Xion, were you the one giving commentary that time?"

"Totally," Xion said with a grin. "I mean, who told my brother to confess to her right outside our house? It was like asking for me to butt in." Xion chuckled, recalling the memory.

"He told me he was pissed about it for a week," Roxas said.

"Though then we found out she 'fell in love at first sight' with another guy on the soccer team. Seriously. There's this sort of fake halo surrounding the soccer team that everyone thinks they're amazing," Xion said. "If only people knew how lazy, selfish, and stupid my brother was…"

"He isn't like that!" Naminé exclaimed. "Sora's nice to everyone!"

"That doesn't mean he's not lazy, selfish, and stupid," Xion said bluntly. "Really. You're probably one of them."

Xion's comment hurt deeper than Naminé thought. She prided herself in knowing Sora pretty well, having become friends with him over the course of the last months, but apparently she didn't know him at all. She was just one his mindless groupies that liked him for who he was at school. The startling fact left her mind reeling.

The rest of the evening passed with the trio chatting about inane matters, mostly Naminé watching Roxas and Xion converse. The two seemed to be very comfortable with each other, not close friends but just very chill. It was interesting watching them talk to each other.

Naminé had wanted to wait until Sora returned because Sora had told Roxas to stay with her and Xion until he came back. However, it was getting late and she knew she was in for a scolding if she didn't call home soon. So she asked for her mother to come pick her up.

"Thanks for having me," Naminé said as Xion and Roxas stood to send her to the door. Outside, a car honked and Naminé smiled sheepishly. "That'll be my mom. Can you tell Sora I'm sorry for leaving early? My mom doesn't like me out for long after dark."

"No problem," Roxas promised. "You're good for my brother, Naminé. You're so honest."

"Honest?" Naminé exclaimed, face reddening. "Sora's the most honest person I know!"

"He just makes people think he's honest when actually he's not," Xion said. "That's didn't make much sense, did it? Anyways, good luck on your project."

"Thanks," Naminé said, though she was still wary of Roxas' words. They seemed to imply that Sora was hiding something great. What was it…?

"Bye Naminé," Roxas and Xion said. Naminé nodded, bidding the two farewell before leaving the house and getting on her mom's car.

"How was the project?" her mom asked.

"Oh. Sora had to leave midway so I just sort of hung out with his sister and Roxas."

"Roxas? He's your classmate, right?" her mother asked as she started the engine. Naminé nodded and responded affirmatively. "Well, that's quite a family."

Naminé turned back to watch the two still dawdling near the front door. They were probably waiting for Sora, she realized. Indeed, it was quite a family that she couldn't quite understand.

* * *

**A/N:** I suck guys, I know. There's this horrendous thing called college applications that plagues every senior this time of the year. Enough of excuses—I'm so sorry for this belated update. I just posted it without editing yet, so please excuse mistakes (or rather, point them out). I'll try to get the next chapter out in two to three weeks.

Thank you so much for all the reviews—I'm sorry I don't have time to respond but they are each very important to me and great motivation to keep writing. I'm starting to hit the middle of stories when I feel the initial inspiration dying out, but I'm determined to pull through. Thanks for everything, my readers!

And yes, I have a cover! Pretty crappy but not bad for a PS beginner, eh?


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter NINE**

"Hey." In response to the voice, Naminé turned towards her side to face the speaker, Sora, who was frowning apologetically. There were a few minutes left of media studies class and they had nothing to do. "Sorry for just running out on you last Friday. I had something to do," the brown-haired boy said.

Obviously. However, she didn't feel like calling him out on the lie (or merely just an untold truth). Instead, she nodded and smiled.

"It's alright. I'm sorry for leaving before you came home," Naminé said.

"No," Sora said, "I didn't expect to be out for so long. Sorry for making you wait."

"It's okay." Naminé didn't like this overly polite atmosphere going on between the two. Though she'd said she'd wanted distance between them, this was reverting too much. It almost hurt to see how far their relationship had digressed.

"Anyways," Sora continued, "when can we finish the movie? I still have it in my DVD player right now."

"Uh, I'm kind of busy today. How about on Wednesday? We can finish the project in one shot."

"Fine by me." The brown-haired boy hesitated for a moment before continuing his words. "What are you busy with these days?"

Naminé wondered if the question was raised out of curiosity or propriety. If it was simply the latter, she didn't want to burden him with a lengthy response. Just as she was about to answer his question, a voice cut in.

"Naminé? I'd like to see you."

Naminé turned towards the front of the classroom, eyeing Mr. Strife seated in his chair. She smiled apologetically at Sora, who nodded and prodded her to go on.

Approaching Mr. Strife, he discussed her last independent project with her for the rest of the period, going a bit into her break time. By the time they were finished and she returned to her seat, she realized Sora had already gone to the lockers without her.

She always felt extremely lonely when this happened, but what could she do? Ask Sora to wait for her? She wasn't his g—girlfriend, or anything…

Yeah, that just set off a spur of fantasies in the young blonde's mind.

She shook her head to clear it of all irrelevant thoughts. There were more important matters at hand. She fished out her cell phone from her pocket and pressed speed dial for her home. Within three rings, her mother picked up.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's me. Is he home yet?"

A chuckle came from the other end. "Naminé, you're still at school. Concentrate on your schoolwork."

Naminé bristled. "Mom, you know I can't concentrate on school right now!"

"Naminé," her mother said in a lightly scolding tone, "you know your brother wouldn't want to find out you were dillydallying with your schoolwork just in anticipation of his return."

Naminé frowned. She didn't like how her mom was using her brother as a reason now. "Fine, fine. I'll be home right afterschool."

"You know, I wonder why you're always so excited before he comes home then act differently when you actually see him."

"Mom!" Naminé exclaimed. It was a dignity thing, she supposed—she actually missed her brother a lot and wanted to see him but she didn't want to show him that. Sibling rivalry and all that.

"Alright," her psychologist mother said. "I'm hanging up now. I'll see you at home."

"Yup. Bye Mom."

Naminé hung up. After a moment, she let a smile surface on her lips. Finally, her brother was coming home! It had been a long time since he'd last returned, but the upcoming Christmas season hallmarked the beginning of his winter break and his imminent return home. Naminé couldn't believe she had to waste her time at school when her brother was returning. Of course, her mother would have no nonsense about staying at home just to welcome her brother, thus here she was. That didn't mean she enjoyed being here—not at all. Time seemed to pass even slower knowing that her brother was on the plane home.

The day dragged on but Naminé didn't have much regard for what was happening in her classes. Finally, collecting her belongings as the last bell rang, she sprinted out of the classroom towards the bus station. She was so enthusiastic that she almost crashed into someone as she turned around the corner out of the school gate. Thankfully, she stopped herself in time.

"I'm sorry!" Naminé exclaimed. She looked up and, to her surprise, saw Xion. "Xion! What are you doing here?"

"Naminé! Why are you in such a rush? Off to see someone important?" Xion asked with a sly grin.

Naminé laughed. "Yes. But probably not in the sense you're thinking of."

Xion blinked and let her lips rest into a comfortable smile. "You're really excited for whomever this is."

Naminé thought about the girl's words. "I am? I mean, yes I am excited. Is it really obvious?" she asked self-consciously.

Xion chuckled. "Yes. In a good way. It's just…nice to see you so obviously excited about something." Xion shook her head to herself. "Anyways, you seem to be in a rush. We can talk next time?"

"Yes!" Naminé exclaimed. Okay, now that she thought about it, she might've been a little too enthusiastic on the outside. It was just that her thoughts were consumed with her brother's imminent return that she didn't really think about how others saw her.

Naminé continued down the sidewalk until she reached the bus stop. After a short five-minute wait, the familiar yellow vehicle pulled up and Naminé boarded first, taking the best seat. The ride home was quick as well and she disembarked from the bus in two gleeful skips.

Her house was just a short walk away. Going as fast as her short legs would carry her, she could barely contain her excitement as she approached home. She leaped up the stairs of the porch in two wide steps and unlocked the front door with her keys.

"I'm home!" she announced cheerfully as she pushed the door open. She was met with silence. Slightly worried, she cleared her throat and repeated her words. "I'm home!" she said with a singsong voice.

There was a crash in the kitchen. A head popped out. "Oh, Naminé? Welcome home! Sorry, I'm trying to make dinner and I was trying out this new recipe so—oh no, no, no, it's burning—!" Her mother immediately returned to her culinary affairs and Naminé chuckled, slipping her backpack off her shoulders and approaching her. Well, at least someone was home. However, the question was where was her brother…?

"If you're wondering about your brother," her mother said, "he went out for a walk. Said he wanted to re-familiarize himself with the place."

Ah. Sometimes, having a psychologist as your mother helped because she knew exactly what you wanted to say.

"Okay," Naminé responded. She'd wait for him to get back. In the mean time…

"Do your homework now. I know you want to vandalize his room or something but I just spent the morning setting it up so leave it alone. Plus I know you won't get any homework done after he gets home."

Of course, her mother's mindreading abilities were quite annoying at other times.

The blonde complied with her mother's wishes and pulled out a worksheet to complete. She quickly finished it, perhaps a bit carelessly, and continued on to her next assignment. As she solved the last problem on her handout, the home phone rang. Since her mother was preoccupied with dinner, Naminé picked up.

"Hello, Naminé speaking," the blonde said into the phone.

"Well, don't you sound professional?" There was a hint of teasing in the voice and it didn't take long for Naminé to figure out who it was.

"Well, hey you who isn't even home when I get home," she said.

"Hey you who couldn't concentrate on school knowing I'd be coming home," he returned. Naminé rolled her eyes and mentally reminded herself to ask her mother when she'd told her brother that.

"When are you coming home?" she asked, pushing aside stray thoughts.

"Soon. I just wanted to ask Mom if she needed me to buy anything. I'm at the supermarket."

"Okay. Let me ask." It took awhile for Naminé to get her mother's attention but her mother rattled off a list of things.

"Umm, lemme see if I got this right…" Naminé spoke into the phone, going through the items in her mind. "Potatoes, carrots, milk, yoghurt, and pineapples."

"What?" her brother said. "I can't carry that much!"

"Well, you volunteered," Naminé said, seeing how she could use this to her advantage. "Mom's busy cooking now so I can't talk to her anymore. And she'll be so disappointed if you don't bring all that home…"

"I'm pretty sure you're just unwilling to talk to her and want to watch me suffer as I haul all that through the front door," her brother said. Naminé responded with a chuckle. Well, she couldn't exactly deny that.

"I'll see what I can do. See you," he said before hanging up. Naminé listened to the phone on dial tone, beeping three times before she hung up. She slowly let a smile stretch across her face.

She was _way _too excited for this.

She approached the kitchen where her mom was still preparing dinner. Though occupied with the stove, her mother could still sense Naminé's presence. There was a slight mock exasperation in her tone. "Yes, Naminé?" her mother said.

"Hi Mom. Just wanted to ask if you needed any help."

Her mother chuckled. "And usually I have to drag you to come down and set the table." Naminé ignored the jab and let it fly overhead. "Well, you might as well start setting up the table. When did your brother say he was getting back?"

"Soon," Naminé replied vaguely. "He's at the supermarket so he'll just do some grocery shopping and then come right back."

"Alright," her mother said, test tasting the broth. "Mmm. Go set up the tables if you have nothing to do then," she said, ushering her daughter away from her domain. Naminé chuckled. Perhaps her mother had a good reason to do so—Naminé was self-admittedly a terror in the kitchen. She gave new meaning to burning water.

As Naminé set up the table, placing the mats and napkins and utensils in their places, she fondly recalled the last similar dinner they'd had. It had been near half a year ago when her brother had come back for summer vacation. Normally, because only the two Blanc females were at home, they ate at their own leisure, often not together because of Naminé's mother's erratic schedule. Naminé, in truth, missed the homey feel to having a proper family dinner in which you sat down with your family and enjoyed a delectable meal.

"Do we have dessert?" Naminé asked as she barged back into the kitchen. Her mother was carrying a large bowl of broth over to the dining table. Naminé inhaled the scent and smiled—it was beef stew, her brother's favorite!

"There's the new recipe I was trying. But I think I burned the piecrust…" her mother mumbled worriedly. Naminé eyed the oven, whose timer was still ticking down closer to zero. Figuring her mother had better judgment than her in these domestic affairs, Naminé settled with bringing out the drinks.

The front door creaked as it opened. Immediately, Naminé dropped whatever was in her hand and dashed towards the living room where she could see the figure that'd just entered the house. She smiled at the familiar bush of messy brown hair and warm blue eyes. Besides the few added centimeters (really, when would her brother stop growing?), he looked just the same.

She spoke first. "Hey, Terra."

Terra smiled. "Hey, Naminé."

To Naminé's surprise, Terra seemed to have bought everything Naminé requested. She rushed over to help relieve some of the burden, receiving a heavy bag of peeled pineapples. "Whoa, you actually carried all this home?"

"Can't disappoint the two women at home now, can I?" Terra said with a grin. Naminé frowned at his choice of language.

"You've been learning how to flirt from one of your stupid friends, haven't you?" Naminé said, the rebuke clear in her tone. "Can't you speak normally?"

Terra chuckled. "You're only so strict when it comes to me, Naminé. Fine, I might've picked up some language from my roommate—but he meant well teaching it to me. You know, ever since—ahem…"

The unmentionable subject had somehow been broached, and Naminé didn't know what to do. She rushed towards the kitchen and placed the bag of pineapples down. Her mother saw Terra as well and rushed forth to take his bags. Terra laughed and insisted on carrying them to the kitchen herself. Naminé suddenly felt thankful for the manly labor he provided. Really, it'd been too long since he'd come home.

"C'mon, Mom made beef stew for you," Naminé said, gesturing towards the lavish dinner prepared for the brown-haired teen—no, perhaps young adult was a better term. Terra's eyes beamed at the sight and he seated himself at the nearest chair. Naminé chuckled. Her brother's love for their mother's food would never cease to amuse her. In some ways, he was a momma's boy. But, you know, the type that strayed from the mother's teachings and never really found the way back.

Alright, perhaps a bit too deep for pre-dinner talk.

The Blanc family quickly settled into lighthearted dinner talk. It was nice being able to chat with her entire family like this. For a little while, she felt almost normal. None of the crazy things in life was happening and she was just an ordinary girl with an ordinary family.

"I'll get dessert," Naminé's mother said as she rose from her seat and returned to the kitchen. The two siblings quietly picked at the remains of their food while enjoying the warm atmosphere.

"Ah, I'm full," Terra said when he finished his food. "I haven't had such a good meal since forever," he commented. "College food is just the same thing over and over again."

"Oh really? Then why have you gotten fatter?" Naminé teased. Terra feigned an angered expression and easily returned the insult. The bickering was interrupted when their mother returned with the dessert.

"Apple pie?" Naminé asked, sniffing the delectable pastry. Her mother nodded enthusiastically and sliced the pie into pieces, letting her children take copious amounts.

"Mmm, it's delicious!" Terra exclaimed. Naminé nodded along, too busy enjoying the warm, sweet filling pouring out of the crust. The two siblings finished their serving of the pastry within minutes and quickly requested for seconds.

As Terra finished his slice and Naminé licked her fingers of apple filling, Terra posed a question. "So, sis, how's high school? The best four years of your life?"

"Hardly," Naminé returned. "It's just about surviving anonymously until I get to college. Isn't _that_ supposed to be the best four years of your life?" Naminé asked.

Terra shrugged. "Well, there are some perks to college life. Roommates, choice of classes, no parents breathing down the back…though it's not like Mom's strict like other parents," Terra said.

"That's true," Naminé said as she grabbed a tissue to wipe her hands. "Well, talk about college. How is everything?"

"It's great!" Terra exclaimed. "Like I said, I get to choose all my classes, so that means no more picking apart literary pieces or understanding the implications or diction. You know how much I hate English class."

"With a passion," Naminé piped in.

"Yeah," Terra said. He paused. "And the people are great. My roommate—I told you about Zack, right? He's a pretty cool guy. He tries real hard to be slick with the girls but just comes of as a wannabe."

Naminé chuckled. "He sounds like someone I wanna meet."

"One day," Terra said. He paused again. Naminé eyed him cautiously. There seemed to be something he wanted to say but wasn't willing to. Perhaps she was picking up from her mother's psychologist ways or perhaps she was reading too deep into this, but Terra's mouth kept opening halfway then shutting itself as he proceeded to ramble on about another subject.

"—until the professor kicked him out of the classroom. Can you believe it?" Terra exclaimed. He paused again. "It's good to be home."

Naminé didn't know how to prod about the subject without coming off as too obvious. Well, Christmas break had just started. She had enough time to get her brother to spill his secrets. As their mother cleared the table, Terra presented five DVDs to Naminé that he said he'd rented just for tonight. "You're done with homework, right? Take your pick and we can have a mini-marathon."

"Terra…" Ms. Blanc began but he smiled.

"C'mon, Mom, we'll be done by 11:00pm. She's done with homework, right? Naminé?"

"Yup, Mom!" Naminé chirped. They didn't have to know that she'd skipped half of the assigned math problems.

"Alright!" Terra exclaimed. "I got the popcorn—you take your pick, Nami!" Terra said. He skipped to the kitchen and Naminé perused the selection her brother had provided. There were two romantic comedies, two horror flicks, and one action movie. They had time for three, so Naminé took one from each genre. She went to set up the DVD player and popped the DVD in. Terra returned just in time as the introduction credits began rolling.

Naminé smiled as she received a bowl of freshly popped popcorn from her brother. They used to have movie marathons all the time before Terra went to high school. It was their way of bonding—ridiculing the clichéd scenes of the romantic comedies, shouting directions at the stupid characters in horror films, and discussing the practicality of doing some of the stunts in the action movies. Naminé missed those fond times and she was particularly excited for tonight. She leaned into the cushions of the couch as the scene on television unveiled to show a pretty blonde dressed in a sharp business suit. Grabbing a handful of popcorn and tossing it into her mouth, she smiled contently.

This was life—peaceful, satisfied, and completely at ease. She didn't need the ups and downs of the previous drama-filled days (at least to her, they were seemingly drama-filled). She was the type of girl that just needed snacks and a good movie to make her day.

* * *

**A/N: **...sorryx100? Got a bit caught up with life and college apps and such. This chapter's a bit raw but I wanted to get it out before I procrastinate even more. Thank you so much to all the reviewers, especially all the constructive criticism! I'll edit my stories immediately when I have the time. Till then, thank you all for your support!


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter TEN**

Naminé beamed at her rough sketch. The return of her brother had motivated her to start drawing again and with inspiration fresh in her mind, she had picked up a pencil and let her hand guide it across the paper. It was at best a crude sketch of her family, but she was proud of herself for having penned at least something on paper.

"Naminé?" The blonde knew to recognize the voice by now and invited the boy in without looking up from her work. She heard the door slowly creak open and through her peripheral vision spied a mass of red clothes and brown hair. After erasing some of the lines, she blew the eraser crumbs aside and examined her drawing with a smile on her face.

"What is it?" Sora asked as he took a seat next to her. She turned around with a serene smile and proudly showed him her work. He looked at it and made a guttural sound of approval. "Whoa. Not bad. This your family?"

Naminé nodded eagerly. She resumed drawing and bobbed her head back and forth to an invisible tune in her head. Despite the stretched silence with Sora in the room, Naminé felt comfortably at home. She didn't mind the brown-haired boy's intrusion into her room anymore, and despite the distance placed between them now, she felt comfortable with his presence. Every weekend, during Xion's sessions, he would come up and accompany her (or was it her accompanying him?) to pass the time. Sometimes they chatted while others times they did their own things. It was a peaceful coexistence.

In fact, now that she thought back on it, she was surprisingly open with Sora now. Perhaps the distance had done her some good. It helped her put things back in perspective: that Sora was a nice boy who was easy to get along with. Why was she pinning all her hopes on being something more? She was in high school, for goodness sake, and he was leaving in a year. Just having his companionship wouldn't be bad either. She chuckled. The sudden appearance of Sora in her life had lit all her romantic fantasies. Now she was slowly getting her head back to the ground.

It was a bit too quiet for her to work so she started a conversation. "How's Xion? She seems a bit happier these times when I see her."

Naminé couldn't see his expression but she listened to Sora's response. "Yeah. I think Dr. Blanc's sessions are working out for her. I wasn't quite sure what she was going through, nor did my parents, so we just kinda refused to admit she had a problem until it got really serious. Then my mom decided to send her here and we're all happier that she's eating right." It was kinda interesting how he'd never explicitly told her but they had mutually assumed that both knew the topic at hand was anorexia.

"What's Xion like? Do you two get along?" Naminé asked while she continued her sketch.

Sora chuckled. "You've seen her. She's the type that has no filter between her brain and mouth—she calls it as she sees it. We're alright, I guess. Ever since my parents got…err, busy and couldn't take Xion to the sessions anymore, I've been responsible and I actually think we're getting closer like this. I'm…glad. I don't think I'm a very good brother."

"Really?" Naminé looked up out of intrigue and met Sora's blue eyes. "I think you're a great brother."

"…yeah?" Sora asked.

"Uh-huh." Naminé nodded, as if reaffirming her point. She then returned to her drawing.

"Don't you have a brother?" Sora asked. Naminé nodded in response. "Terra, right? I remember him. He was good on the field."

Naminé smiled fondly. Indeed, her brother used to play soccer. Collegiate-level sports were another story so he'd dropped it, but he used to love soccer in high school. He played defense and was one of the average but steady players on the team. Just like his personality, Naminé thought with a smile.

"He's home, actually," Naminé said. "From college. For Christmas vacation."

"Really?" Sora sounded genuinely excited. "I didn't see him just now."

"I think he's out. Or in his room. I'm actually not quite sure," Naminé admitted. She wondered if she should go find him for Sora but decided otherwise.

"So yeah, that's it about Xion," Sora said, ending that conversation. "So how are you these days? I know you're busier with Terra coming back. That was why you couldn't bother with the project for a few days?"

"Yeah," Naminé said. She finally laid her sketch aside to concentrate on the conversation with Sora. "I'm really glad that he's home but he's busy most of the times so it's not like I can do anything about it. Plus…" Naminé considered it for a moment and decided to share her thoughts with Sora. "You know there's this sibling rivalry thing? Like how you always want to one-up your sibling."

"Oh yeah, I'm always on the receiving end of that from Xion," Sora said knowingly.

Naminé chuckled, imaging Sora helplessly surrendering to his sister's persistency. "Anyways, I don't want to just ask him to hang out because it'll make me look like this clingy little sister. But I want to hang out. But I don't know how to get him to hang out with me and so—gah, did that make sense?"

"…sorta," Sora said slowly, processing the information. "So you want to hang out with him but don't want to come on too forward." He chuckled. "You make it sound like you're soliciting a date from him."

"It's not like that," Naminé said, brushing the matter off. "But yeah. It's pretty stupid, now that I think about it. Especially now that he's gone and returned, he seems even more mature than before but I'm just the childish little sister who's trying to wheedle a, well, I guess a date out of him without labeling it as one."

"Hey, how about you invite him to one of our soccer matches? So you can hang with him and not explicitly ask him to. I'll even ask him for you," Sora proposed.

Naminé's eyes brightened. "Seriously? Thank you so much! It won't be awkward for you, would it?"

Sora chuckled. "Nah. Non-awkwardness is my strongest suit," he said with a smile. Naminé secretly had to agree. "Plus, if you asked, it would _totally_ sound like a date. You really don't want to come off as the needy sister."

Naminé rolled her eyes. "Please. I'd never be the needy one in the relationship."

Sora leaned in, intrigued by the conversation topic. "Oh? Wait, how many relationships have you been in?"

Naminé chuckled, grabbing a pillow nearby and tossing it in his general direction. "Zero, I know, you don't have to rub it in my face!" Naminé was laughing and Sora was still teasing her about her abysmal love life and for a moment, Naminé felt comfortable enough to share the most exciting tidbit about her otherwise nonexistent love life.

"Well, there was almost something once," she confided. Sora immediately leaned in and dropped the laughing expression, listening intently. "His name was Squall, Squall Leonhart. But he insisted everyone call him Leon. He had dark brown hair and these deep blue eyes…"

"Please don't tell me you're gonna spend five minutes gushing over every aspect of his physical appearance, down to that freckle behind his left ear," Sora mocked.

"Hey, it's my story!" Naminé exclaimed and she beamed, recalling the fond memories. "And for your information, I wasn't that stalkerish. Anyways, he was the assistant instructor at a martial arts class my brother had signed up for at the local gym. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Terra had class and I had to walk to the gym and wait for his class to end before he could drive me home. So twice a week I got to see Leon."

"Wait a sec, how old was this guy? If he was your brother's instructor…"

"Age is but a number, Sora," Naminé said with a wry smile.

"Awh, c'mon Naminé, I'm just trying to fill in the pieces of the puzzle here," Sora said.

"Alright, he was twenty. He was working part-time as a college student. I was fifteen. It was love—or love to a teenager, at least—at first sight."

"Naminé, that's a five-year difference."

"Numbers, Sora." Naminé grinned, continuing with her story. "Anyways, since Leon saw me just sitting out every time I came to wait for Terra, he invited me to join one day. Of course, the group of pubescent boys had no interest in entertaining a young high school girl so they mostly ignored me. But Leon was nice. He showed me how to assume a defensive posture and how to throw a punch to immobile the opponent and how the best defense was assuming the offense. This was when life was horrible and I had no friends at the new high school, so perhaps it was easy for me to like him."

"But?" Sora teased. Naminé shot him a glare but continued her story.

"But…well, to be honest, there was no but. That's where the story ends. We never had anything." She forced a grin. "Everything was in my head. After my brother's class ended and he got busier, he had less and less reason to visit the gym. So it got hard for me to go there without having question asked. And finally, when I asked Terra about Leon one day, he said Leon was gone. Got a job somewhere and moved away."

"And that was your first love…" Sora mumbled.

"Yup. All imagined, conjured up in the mind of a hopelessly romantic fifteen-year-old who only wanted her happy ending and didn't want to look at the facts of reality. To be honest, there was nothing, just what I forced myself to believe there was," Naminé said bitterly.

"Don't say it like that. Your first love will always be precious to you. It hurts and you'll never forget, but that's what makes finding true love so much more worth it."

Naminé grinned. "Thank you, Sora. You can be quite philosophical when the time calls for it."

"Well, what can I say," Sora said with a grin. "I'm considering minoring in philosophy."

Naminé laughed and then smiled, feeling content. She didn't even know why she chose to share that with Sora. She finally decided it was nice having someone to share these things with. She didn't even have any girl friends to vent to, her mom was busy enough with the problems of those who were really psychologically challenged, and Terra was more than often away. She smiled, liking the sense of security of having confided in Sora. It was just a silly story of a silly first love, but having told it made her feel so much more relieved. Maybe she was just riding on the good mood she'd been having this entire week due to her brother's return home. Whatever it was, she liked this feeling and hoped it'd last.

They smiled at each other, and somehow, talking about all that personal stuff made Naminé feel like they had a moment of connection and understanding. To be honest, there had always been a question on the tip of her mind that she'd wanted to ask but had never found the opportunity to do so. It was just curiosity but it was painful just bearing it everyday. She figured now would be the best time to ask and she had the least to lose.

"Sora, can I ask you a question?"

"You just asked one, but sure."

How clichéd their conversation was at times, but it brought a smile to Naminé's face. "What…what happened with you and Kairi?"

The smile on Sora's face immediately dropped and his entire mood plummeted—even as a spectator, Naminé could tell. She wanted to retract her question but whatever she said couldn't mend the damage already caused. Instead, she chose to wait patiently for Sora to gather his words.

He drew a breath. "I don't know, Naminé."

Naminé inhaled and then exhaled, pondering what her next move was supposed to be. Was that a way of saying he didn't want to have this conversation? Should she probe with another question? There wasn't a handbook for social etiquette and Naminé was the socially awkward one! Great—she just let her curiosity get ahead of herself. Now how was she supposed to clean up this mess?

"I really don't know…" Sora said before Naminé could say anything. He plowed on, mindless of the slightly shocked expression on her face. "You could say she was my first love. We grew up together, so we're childhood friends in a sense. She was always there for me through our first trip to the dentist, our first detentions, me deciding to try out for soccer…she was the person I could always count on. And I just, you know, sorta fell for her along the way," Sora explained. Naminé nodded along, understanding what he meant. It was the picture perfect romance: best friends looking at each other one day and realizing they could be so much more.

"But then…" Sora began ominously.

There was always a 'but.'

"But then high school came. Things got messy. Kairi hung out with this crowd that I didn't like to associate myself with. I'm not gonna say things like she didn't change because she did, that's what life does to us. But she just…when I looked at her, I couldn't see that part of her that I fell for. She got so careful about things we talked about, like she had built a wall that kept _me_ out. I was supposed to be her best friend first, boyfriend second. It upset me to see that things were somehow…ruined along the way because we decided to give this boyfriend-girlfriend thing a shot." Sora stopped, collecting his thoughts.

"And then?" Naminé gently probed.

"And then…" He chuckled sardonically, "as the saying goes, the shit hit the fan. She started keeping secrets, and I began getting too possessive and controlling, in her words, and we just…fell apart." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

"How could that happen? It just…crumbled?" Naminé asked carefully.

Sora shrugged. "I don't know. To this day, I still don't know what went wrong. She dumped me." Well, that was news. Naminé had assumed from the conversation that it had been the other way around. "But what upset me even more was after the breakup."

"You mean…this year?" Naminé asked. She knew that they'd broken up over the summer.

"Yeah, starting last fall," Sora said. "We had broken up. She said we could still be friends and I was cool with that—I just wanted to be there for her, since she seemed to be going through some tough times. But she just…she was the same. She acted the same. She just…she acted like our breakup never happened."

"So she just overlooked the fact that you two had broken up?" Naminé asked.

"Something like that. I mean, she recognized it, since I confronted her about it afterwards to make sure I wasn't dreaming up the entire thing or something, but she _acted_ the same. With all those advances and flirty comments. It was like we hadn't broken up. And for a brief moment, I hated her. I really didn't understand. I felt like I was being played—like I was just a toy to have a stake over and then throw aside but keep around to make her feel good, you know? I was sick and tired of her behavior and I didn't know what to do. I tried keeping my distance but she used to be my best friend and she always knew where to find me. She had me wrapped around her finger, and to be honest, I knew it and I knew she knew it. What I didn't know was why she was acting like that."

"You should stand up for yourself. Make a move. Find another girl," Naminé suggested. Pause. Cue awkward silence. Yeah, so around when did she and Sora start getting close? She could hear the elephant stomping the room, demanding for his presence to be acknowledged. She was staring intently at the ground and finally dared to look up, peering through her lashes. Sora was awkwardly shifting his gaze from her to the pocket of air next to her.

"Yeah, umm, so about that…" he began.

"It's okay, Sora," Naminé cut in, not wanting to make this any harder on him than it was. "I understand. You were going through a tough time and you needed a distraction. I was conveniently there, and—"

"No, Naminé, no, you were _not_ a distraction," Sora said, emphasizing his words. "You were…there for me. You were a breath of fresh air. Alright, that sounds like a distraction, but you were more than that. You reminded me of what there was outside life with Kairi. To be honest, you just kinda barged into my life when I realized you were Dr. Blanc's daughter."

"Yeah, I realized that too. And I'm sorry about that," Naminé said, apologizing for something she had always felt kinda bad about.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. You don't have to apologize," Sora said. He chuckled. "It was nice having someone whose intentions I didn't always have to be second-guessing. You were always kinda easy to read, you know," Sora teased.

"Well, excuse me for wearing my heart on my sleeve," Naminé said.

"But really. You were a great friend. That was all anyone could ask for," Sora said. Naminé felt her heart jump into her throat. She was a great friend. Wasn't that a step towards girlfriend material?

Seriously, he was just lamenting over breaking up with his girlfriend and all she could think about were thoughts she'd long suppressed? She was better than this! She was his friend!

"Wow," Sora said, taking a step back, "what brought about that? I just…hopefully I didn't just burden you with all that knowledge."

"No, it's okay, Sora," Naminé said. She was the neutral party, so she supposed him confiding in her was the best option he had. She wouldn't pass judgment or try to get him to fall to one side of the argument. "Thank you for telling me all that."

Sora chuckled. "I don't even know why I told you all that…needless to say, that's to remain between us?"

"As long as you don't go around telling people about my crush on my five-years-older-than-me gym instructor."

"Hey, that's great blackmail, I just realized! Thanks, Naminé!"

"No telling, you swore!"

"I actually didn't."

"Then swear now!"

Somewhere along the line, things had blurred again. Distance had become openness and doubts had become trust. Naminé wasn't even sure how their relationship had warped so quickly. Maybe it was the distance that made her realize she simply wanted Sora's company as a friend. And she was glad Sora chose to confide in her, too. Regardless, she was glad she had this heart-to-heart with him. It made her feel like she really could trust him now.

They chattered the rest of the time away over random subjects and before they knew it, it was time for Sora to go. As the brown-haired boy rose to his feet and left the room, Naminé followed suit, sending the guest off to the door. She followed him to the living room where Xion was waiting patiently, sitting on the couch. At the sight of the two, a smile drew across her face.

"Sora! And hey Naminé. What are _you two_ doing?"

There were probably connotations in the way she enunciated her words but Naminé chose to ignore them. "Xion. You're looking great!"

Xion smiled a bit self-consciously, tugging at the hems of her shirt. "Yeah. Well, things are looking up these days." It was still hard for Naminé to picture the girl as anorexic. Or bulimic, she mentally added in her mind.

"Anyways, thanks again for everything, Dr. Blanc. We'll be around next week," Sora said politely to Naminé's mother. The psychologist smiled and returned the words of pleasantries before ushering off to take care of another family. Just as Naminé was about to say something, the front door opened.

"Hey, Naminé, I got you some ice cream. And where's—oh, hey, aren't you Sora?"

"Terra!" Sora exclaimed, ecstatically greeting Naminé's brother. The blonde watched their exchange on the side, seated next to Xion. As the boys chattered away, Xion seemed to feel the need to make conversation with Naminé.

"So, you're growing close with my brother," she commented innocuously. However, knowing Xion, she never did anything without an interior purpose.

"Yes, Xion?" Naminé said with a smile. She might as well get down to the point.

Xion chuckled, clapping an arm on Naminé's shoulder. "Awh, c'mon, I've been prepping my protective younger sister speech since _forever_! I mean, I've never even gotten the chance to use it before my brother got together with someone! He always brings the news home without discussing it with the family. Or I ruin it with Roxas," Xion said, a devilish grin on her face.

"Okay, Xion, I think he just brings the news home because if he tells you about it, you'll stalk the girl and creep her out until she won't want to say yes."

"Sora must've told you a lot about me," Xion said, accepting the information casually.

Naminé chuckled. Xion was, like her brother, so easy to get along with. "So, what speech? You can run it through me if you want. You don't have to actually give it to me, since it's inapplicable."

"Inapplicable? From what I see, it's completely applicable!" Xion exclaimed. Naminé smiled, thinking perhaps this was the black-haired girl's own way of giving pep talks.

"No, I think your brother and I are better off as friends." For numerous reasons that she'd formed over time. To state it simply, it wasn't worth it. She enjoyed his company. She didn't want more. She didn't need to hold a stake over him. She didn't feel the need to monopolize him. She wasn't looking for an amorous relationship. He was leaving in a year. What would the school say? The reasons just kept going and going until she'd decided one day that her rationality made much more sense than that sliver of hope that they'd be a miracle if they were something more.

"I'm supposing you've thought this over?" Xion asked conversationally.

"Yes. Many times. Believe me," Naminé said with a small grin. "But anyways, I'll tell you if you need to start practicing those lines again. I think he's getting kinda close to this blonde in our media studies class…"

The two girls gossiped away about Sora and other things at school. Before long, Sora and Terra interrupted their conversation.

"Hey Naminé, I asked Terra to come to our game next week. You'd better make sure he comes and personally attend as well!" Sora said.

Naminé chuckled. "Don't worry, I always go."

"You always go?" Terra asked, whirling his head over towards Naminé. "Since when were you interested in soccer? You only came to a handful of _my_ games!"

"That's cause you told me not to go since the team sucked," Naminé retorted, resisting the urge to blow a playful raspberry. "The team's awesome this year! They're on a winning streak so far!"

"So I've heard," Terra said, tilting his head towards Sora. "Must be some amazing work by one fast runner."

"By everyone on the team," Sora said modestly. "So, I'll see you next week then, Terra? It's against Moira High and I'm so sure _everyone_ in the school is gonna be there." Oh, Moira High. Even as a nonathletic student, Naminé knew of their school's intense rivalry with that school.

"Moira? You should've said so! I'll be there for sure. I'll be waiting to see you kick ass," Terra said with an expectant grin.

"You bet!" Sora exclaimed. The two boys exchanged some sort of fist bump-slash-man hug (Naminé really never understood guys and their body language) before Sora left with Xion out of the main door. The two Blanc siblings bid them farewell and shut the door behind them.

"So I just have to ask again…soccer games, really? Just because they're having a good season?" The disbelief was palpable in Terra's tone.

"So I suddenly grew interested in watching sports. Shouldn't you be happy that I'm interested in your past hobbies?" Naminé returned.

"Yeah, well—it's just kinda sudden. And it's not soccer in general because I don't see magazines lying around or the TV set on the sports channel. It's just our school's games, right? And that probably means you're there watching someone…"

Whoa, whoa, whoa, since when did her brother get so perceptive? He was swimming dangerously close to the real reason, or what was the original reason. Naminé grinned innocently, cutting off her brother's rambles.

"C'mon, Terra, you're thinking way too much. I just want to watch a good game. And I hang out with my friends while we watch. It's not solely concentrated on the game."

Terra tilted his head back and forth. "Alright, whatever." Figuring the argument wasn't worth fighting, he went further into the house and set down the plastic bags in his hand. "Mom? They ran out of pineapples but I bought canned ones…"

Naminé let out a sigh in relief. She didn't like anyone, including her brother, digging too deep into her personal life. Defensive barriers, she supposed. And her brother had raised an interesting thought. Now that she'd ruled out anything romantic with Sora, why did she continue to go to the soccer games? She supposed she could chalk it up to supporting Sora as a friend. But were they even that close? Did ordinary friends go to soccer games? God, she was overthinking all of this, and that was really the last thing she wanted now.

She had just found a precarious balance in her and Sora's relationship—she didn't want to just ruin it again.

* * *

**A/N:** And so they share a moment! I really don't know what to say about this chapter...the let's-exchange-secrets part was added later on. Tell me if you think it's weird they're suddenly having a heart-to-heart. I tried justifying it in the chapter but it sounds kinda weak so...

Naminé's little romantic encounter with Leon (randomly assigned character, I just needed someone to fill the role) was completely imagined, just something I imagine teenage girls go through. You know, the liking the older brother figure phase (that ironically, I actually never went through).

I love Xion and how she dives right into the matter at hand. And complete disregard for tact, at times. It's so refreshing to write, not having to go around in circles like with Naminé.

Sorry for the delay, but hope you enjoy this chapter! Next one will hopefully we up in a month. I really want to finish this entire story in a year, and so far we're looking at twenty chapters, so we'll see how that goes. Many thanks to all my reviewers and followers-your support is what fuels me to wedge deeper into this story!


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter ELEVEN**

Terra coming home was good for everyone, especially Naminé. With her brother in the house, she felt a bit more comfortable and at ease with herself. The constant sense of insecurity common in teenagers was a bit reduced in Naminé's case. About a week after Terra's return, she began to realize how she was acting a bit differently than usual. She took the initiative in greeting acquaintances in the halls, made small talk with teachers while soliciting help on schoolwork, and hung out a lot more with Olette and Hayner. It actually took Olette and Hayner's commenting for her to realize how much more open she was.

"You are," Hayner said, stuffing a fry in his mouth. "You never talked back to me before."

"That's because I didn't know you that well," Naminé argued.

"See, you just talked back to me!" Hayner exclaimed, completely disregarding Naminé's words. Naminé sighed. Sometimes, Hayner's one-track mind led him to ignore what other people said.

"Hayner's right," Olette chirped, "you are much more outgoing these days. Is there a particular reason? I mean, it's a good thing."

"I'm more outgoing?" Naminé considered the thought. These days she just felt a surge of energy in her, an extra skip to her steps, a rush of empowering strength in her. She didn't bother to identify the source of this emotion when it was such a positive, uplifting force. "Maybe. I mean, I do feel better these days. Probably because my brother's home from college."

"Are you two close?" Olette asked.

"Eh. I mean, we had a normal relationship I guess. We weren't confiding our deepest darkest secrets with each other but we got along. Do you two have any siblings?"

Hayner and Olette simultaneously shook their heads. "Only child," Olette said.

"Well, I gotta go," Hayner said as he gathered his things. "The tournament starts in half an hour and it's a ten minute walk home. Plus I gotta stock up on popcorn."

"What tournament?" Naminé asked.

Olette scoffed. "A _gaming_ tournament. Seriously, it's not even a sport – it's _gaming_. I almost wanted to punch him when he told me he was staying up all night watching a gaming tournament. Have you heard one of his rambles about the proliferation of games and the expansion of the gaming industry in the coming decade?"

"One day, gaming will be considered a professional sport!" Hayner exclaimed. Olette whacked him on the side of his head.

"Yeah. So that's that. I actually gotta go too because I have a paper due tomorrow. Legit homework," she added, directing the last sentence at Hayner. "Are you leaving too, Naminé?"

Naminé looked around the café they were sitting in. "Yeah, I should probably go to – oh hold on, can you wait a moment?" Naminé asked as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Checking the caller I.D. – unknown – Naminé briefly wondered who it was before picking up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"_Hello? Is this Naminé?_" The voice was a guy's, vaguely familiar, but Naminé couldn't identify it.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"_Oh. Hey, it's me. Sora._"

"Sora!" Naminé exclaimed. She recalled Sora revealing he'd obtained her number to ask for help on media studies homework. Dimly, she wondered why he was calling now. "Sorry, can you gimme a moment?"

"_Yeah, no problem_." Naminé held her phone to the side and turned towards Hayner and Olette.

"Sora's calling you?" Olette asked. Naminé could hear the disbelief and curiosity permeating her words. Naminé grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"Yeah. I don't know why but he is. I'll see you two tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, see you. Let's go, Hayner," Olette said. With a pleasant smile and wave, the two were off on their way home.

"Hello? Sora? You there?" Naminé asked, placing her cellphone next to her ear once more.

"_Yeah. Sorry, did I call at a bad time?_"

"No, not at all!" she exclaimed. "But what do you need?"

"_Remember last time I went to your house? I may or may not have left my wallet there. And it has student I.D. card inside. I need my I.D. card for this thing my mom's signing me up for, so can I come get it real quick?"_

"Oh right, your wallet!" Naminé recalled finding his wallet in her room after he'd left. She had kept telling herself to return it but apparently forgot again and again. "I have it with me! I'm actually outside now."

"_Oh, okay. Where are you?_"

"I'm in Comet Café."

"_Alright, I'll be over in fifteen minutes. Sit tight!"_

"Yeah, I'll be leaving on the dot. So be on time!" Naminé giggled. She hung up and set her phone down. She still half a turkey sandwich and her strawberry banana smoothie. Fishing out the required reading for history class, she began perusing the assignment while waiting for Sora.

To his credit, Sora arrived fourteen minutes after he called (yes, Naminé was counting). He rushed in and Naminé looked up to see who it was since the door made an annoying ring-ling sound whenever someone entered or exited. Sora smiled upon seeing her and immediately slid into the seat opposite hers. A waitress handed him a glass of complimentary water and he thanked her with a charming smile.

"Anytime. Would you like to order anything?" she asked. Naminé observed the waitress. She previously wasn't responsible for Naminé's table but apparently now she was. It was pretty obvious why she'd taken it on herself to do more than her job. Naminé shrugged. She had her smoothie and no stake over Sora – they could flirt away all they wanted.

"Umm, no it's okay. Thanks though." Sora was polite all the way through, and the waitress smiled and lingered for awhile longer than deemed necessary before leaving to take care of the other tables.

"Did you know she was trying to flirt with you?" Naminé asked, setting her smoothie down.

"What? The waitress?" Sora asked, jabbing a finger at her direction.

Naminé nodded. "It wasn't really obvious, thank goodness, but she was. It was entertaining to watch you shoot her down."

"Wait, what? She was flirting with me?" So apparently Sora had no idea the effect he had on the female half of the population. Naminé chuckled. His obliviousness was a bit adorable. Okay, that thought was meant in a completely platonic way. Cute like a little brother.

"I feel kinda bad for her…" Naminé continued playing on Sora's conscience, knowing he'd feel bad for unintentionally shooting her down.

"What? But I didn't—how was she—but it's not—argh!"

"Calm down," Naminé said, chuckling. "It's not your fault. I mean, at least you made it clear you don't want her leaving her phone number on a napkin or anything."

"What?" Okay, maybe Sora was just really unversed in the ways of society. Or maybe Naminé just watched too many TV sitcoms.

"Never mind. Ignore me. Do you want your wallet?" Naminé asked. Sora nodded and Naminé flipped through her bag to pass him his wallet. It was a worn leather one that was compact and practical. "I was going to give it back to you during the day but I kept on forgetting. Sorry."

"Yeah, I didn't realize I'd left it at your house until afterschool." Sora shrugged, receiving the wallet. "Thanks a lot."

"So what's your student I.D. needed for?" Naminé asked.

"Oh, this thing for college. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what. My mom handles most of the paperwork. I just give her whatever she asks for."

Naminé chuckled. She'd forgotten about the whole entire thing with college. "Right, college. So where are you thinking of applying to?"

Sora shrugged. "The local universities on Destiny Islands, and maybe some in Twilight Town or Radiant Garden. I'm not that keen on leaving Destiny Islands though. Those places have nothing on the beaches of Destiny Islands."

Naminé nodded in agreement. "I agree. I actually came from Radiant Garden. The weather's alright there, but there's a sharp divide between Radiant Garden and Hollow Bastion, considered the ghettoes or poorer part of the city. I'm assuming you're applying to a college in Radiant Garden though so you should be fine."

"Oh. Well, I didn't even know that," Sora said. He chuckled. "To be honest, I'm a bit apprehensive about leaving Destiny Islands. I've literally grown up on these islands."

"Well, change is inevitable. I believe you'll do great wherever you go."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Oh wait, sorry, lemme take a call." Sora picked up on a call and began speaking rapidly to his phone. Naminé tried to look around to pretend she wasn't listening in on his conversation, hoping to give him some space, but it was kinda hard to do so when he was talking in loud, angry words.

"Are you kidding me? What did you—okay, I see. I see. Hmm. Give me a moment, I'll be there as soon as I can. Alright. Thanks for calling me. Okay, bye." Sora finally hung up and looked towards Naminé, who was staring at him with wide, curious eyes.

She had to ask. "Who was that?"

"Oh, no one." Obviously, he was hiding something. "I have to go though. My mom's still waiting for this student I.D. Sorry to cut this conversation short."

"Oh, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow?" Naminé asked almost hopefully.

"Of course. See you." Sora got to his feet and then left quickly without another word. It worried Naminé as to who exactly he was on the phone with. He had obviously left the café aggravated and a bit impatient. Naminé watched him through the glass panel that served as a wall for the café.

She blinked. Was he meeting up with—Hayner?

Naminé watched as the two of them exchanged rapid conversation. Hayner was making wild gestures with his hands and Sora was mostly listening. Then, the two of them were taking action. Naminé rose to her feet. For some reason, she felt compelled to follow. Her curiosity was nagging and had been nagging at her ever since she'd watch Sora and Hayner's exchange in media studies class more than a month ago. Grabbing her belongings, she dashed out of the café just in time to watch them rush down the street around the corner.

It was a bit ridiculous and foolhardy for her to decide on a whim to stalk the two but she was dying to know. She had tried asking Sora about it before but he'd skillfully diverted the subject to something else with his natural flair for articulation. She had then tried asking Hayner but he'd suddenly closed himself off and refused to reveal anything pertinent. In other words, both tries were failures. This seemed like an opportune moment to figure out something about the two of them.

Spying was harder than she'd thought. She was constantly afraid that they'd discover her and ask her what she was doing following them. Many times Hayner or Sora would look up and around, and out of fear, she'd duck behind a fire hydrant or a corner, her heart beating loudly in her chest. After what she felt like was a sufficient moment of time, she'd peek around and realize they were far away once more. It was hard gauging the distance between them such that they were far enough for them to not see her but close enough for her to keep them in her line of sight.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. Naminé looked around. They had been walking around for over fifteen minutes and they'd come to one of the poorer parts of the islands. The streets were desolate and full of garbage and fallen leaves. A chilly wind blew by. It was growing dark and Naminé was worried what would happen.

At the far distance she could make out Hayner and Sora approaching a gang of other people. She found a favorable spying position from behind a fat trash can and situated herself there. Peering around the trash can, she tried to listen in our their conversation.

"What the hell is going on here?" That was Sora's loud voice that came out when he was trying to assert himself. He was rushing to tend to someone on the ground – Naminé focused her eyes on the fallen individual and realized to her horror that it was Roxas! She blanched – what was Roxas doing getting caught up in gang wars or whatever had just happened?

"This punk thought he could graffiti our walls and get off scot-free!" one of the thugs exclaimed. "We're just showing him who owns these streets!"

"That doesn't mean you just beat him to pulp!" Sora exclaimed. Though outnumbered, Sora did not show fear or trepidation in face of the possibility of being beaten up. Hayner was flanking his side and together the two were standing up against the gang.

"Tch. You're Sora, eh? The kid's cousin? We've heard of ya. You're a good guy and you normally don't trouble others. We'll let you off today but tell your cousin that if we see him again in these streets, it'll be more than just a beating that he'll get. Boys, let's go." Under the lead of one guy, the gang left the three boys to tend to their own affairs. They were surprisingly rational, Naminé thought.

"Is he okay?" Sora asked as he kneeled back down next to Roxas. Hayner was helping Roxas up into a sitting position. Roxas wasn't speaking but he seemed conscious and was spluttering coughs.

"Well, he's better off than I'd expected," Hayner said. "When I called you, I saw him running away from those guys. I would've intervened but Olette was with me and I didn't want her to get involved."

"I understand," Sora said. "Let's take care of him first."

Oh my goodness. Naminé didn't know what to think. Roxas had gotten in a fight? Roxas did graffiti? The Roxas that had helped pick up her papers and was always kind and polite when she saw him in school? It was hard to reconcile these two contrasting images of him that she had. She leaned on the trash can further, continuing to listen to the two boys' conversation.

"He seems to be fine. I'm no doctor but I think he's just bruised. Nothing worse. He'll wake up in moments I think," Hayner said. For a teenage boy who seemed disinterested in his studies, he sounded like a potential doctor to Naminé.

"Thanks, Hayner. I don't know what I'd do without you," Sora said.

"I don't know what Roxas would do without you." Pause. "Have you talked to him about all of this before?"

"I have," Sora said. "He was drawing himself away from me when high school began. When I discovered he was involved in this…Organization XIII, I asked why in the world he would even join. He gave me some vague answer about fitting in and belonging. I didn't really take him seriously and supposed it was just a phase. Well, looking at it now, it seems like more than just a phase."

"Yeah," Hayner said. "He used to hang out with us at the usual spot everyday afterschool. That was middle school though." He snorted. "Good days. Now he's just running around with this Organization everyday and I don't know what to think of it." He then proceeded to give a long sigh. "I'm worried. I've tried talking to him but he shut me out."

"I know. He does the same thing to me. Once I mention it to him, he begins to close himself off from me. I…I have no idea what to do." Sora sighed helplessly. "I just want him to be happy again."

"Yeah." The two paused, perhaps reminiscing memories of the good old days. Naminé didn't know what to think of the situation. There was apparently so much between them that she never knew. She didn't want to assume anything based on biased accounts so she tried to keep her judgments neutral.

"Hey, I gotta go. Olette said she'd talk to me through IM and she'll be suspicious if I'm not on since I'm always on my computer." Hayner chuckled. "Can you manage?"

"Yeah. He'll be waking soon, right?"

"Should be. Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah. And Hayner, thanks again."

"No problem. Anything for a friend." Hayner chuckled. "Really. Despite everything, Roxas is still one of my friends."

"I'm sure he'd be glad to hear that."

After farewells, Hayner went on his way. There was a long stretched period of silence. Naminé's feet were growing sore from her awkward kneeling position. She wondered how long this would before Roxas woke up. Soon enough, her unasked question was answered.

Roxas' coughs grew louder. "Hey, you okay?" Sora asked and Naminé saw him pat Roxas' back. After a moment, Roxas seemed to wake up and get up into a sitting position. It took him awhile to speak.

"S—Sora?"

"Yeah. Your cousin. Remember?" Sora's tone was light and jocular, making light of the situation despite the state of Roxas' wellbeing. Naminé heard Roxas manage a small laugh.

"Yeah. I don't think I have amnesia."

"Just checking."

A long, stretched pause of silence. Naminé wondered what would happen now that the two finally had the chance to confront each other.

"Do you want to tell me what just happened?" Given Sora's words, he sounded strangely like a father.

"No." And Roxas like the rebellious teenager. "It's my own business."

"You're my cousin. Your business is my business."

"We can argue all day and still go nowhere. Just leave me alone."

"No!" Sora's emphatic declaration startled both Naminé and Roxas. "This has been going on long enough. Why were you doing graffiti in the first place? I know you love art and all that but you could've found a more peaceful, lawful way of expressing it! You should be thankful that it wasn't the police that caught you or this would be going on record!"

"So are you saying I should be thankful that those thugs beat me up instead? You don't understand anything, Sora. Don't pretend you do."

"If I don't, then tell me! The only reason I don't know anything is because you keep on shutting me out! How do you expect me to know things you don't tell me?"

"I'm not telling you for a reason." Roxas was resolute in his tone and he stubbornly looked away from Sora.

"Why won't you tell me?" Sora asked. "You've been pulling away from me ever since you began high school. I thought it was because you joined the gang but I asked around and found out you joined the gang in 8th grade. We were fine in 8th grade. Why the sudden change when your freshman year began?" Sora paused, giving Roxas a chance to speak but the blond remained silent. "There was only one thing that changed over the summer from your 8th to 9th grade. And that was that I began dating Kairi."

What? Kairi? Naminé wondered what in the world Kairi had to do with the two cousins' feud.

"Did you have something against her? Why did you pull away suddenly? Tell me!" Sora demanded.

"I won't! I don't have to and I'm not gonna tell you! You're not my father or even my brother—you're just my cousin! Can you just leave me alone now?"

"Fine!" Sora exclaimed. Naminé was surprised that Sora was actually conceding to Roxas' demand. "Fine! I'm tired of trying to care for you but getting my help rubbed right back in my face! If you want to ruin your life, go ahead! I could care less!" Sora's spiteful words were biting—Naminé didn't think he could be so…_mean_. She supposed even Sora's patience and kindness had a limit.

"Fine. I never asked for your help anyways." Roxas' statement was quiet but deadly. A long stretched silence later, Sora stomped away from the scene. Naminé frowned. What was happening? Why was this so? It might have been perhaps from her mother's sessions that she knew the reason for this was miscommunication. Certainly there was a way for the two of them to reconcile.

"I know you're there, you know." Roxas' voice spoke to no one and for a moment, Naminé didn't realize that he was probably addressing _her_. "Yeah, you, the blonde girl hiding behind the trash can. Aren't you afraid what's rotting in there?"

Naminé guiltily came out of her hiding place. "You knew I was here the whole time?"

"Well, not the whole time." Roxas smiled serenely in comparison to his demeanor when he'd argued with Sora. "Perhaps halfway between talking with Sora. Your hiding skills aren't that good, you know."

"Like you would know," Naminé murmured as she slowly approached.

"I actually do know. I was always found the last when we played hide-and-seek as kids." Roxas' cheeky response was a breath of fresh air given the tensions in the air. Naminé approached and took a seat next to him.

"Are you okay?" she felt the urge to ask despite the obvious answer.

"I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle," Roxas said.

"Do you need anything? I have…" Naminé flipped through her bag to see if she had anything useful. "Band-Aids, a towel, water?"

"Water sounds good." Naminé passed him her bottle of water and he downed half the bottle in one gulp. "Ahh. That tastes good. Thanks."

"No problem. You can have the rest."

Naminé paused. She wasn't sure what was supposed to happen now. She had gotten herself into quite the predicament. She wasn't afraid of Roxas. Instead, her curiosity was begging to know more.

"I'm sure you're dying to know what just happened," Roxas mentioned. Naminé nodded. "Normally I'd love to entertain a pretty girl, but I gotta brush up and get home before curfew." Naminé blinked. Had he—was he _flirting_ with her? It was just one comment but Naminé couldn't help but wonder. Despite being beaten up, there was a small smile on his face. Naminé figured this was just his way of dealing with the awkwardness of the situation. "I'll give you three questions. So choose wisely."

"You make this sound like one of those stories where I'm an ingénue and you're the knowledgeable wizard who doesn't want to spoil the story so he limits the girl to ask three questions." Naminé had no idea why she had to bring that into the conversation.

Roxas laughed. "Interesting comparison. But I'm a bit disappointed I'm just a knowledgeable wizard. Shouldn't I at least be the dashing vagabond who seems to be a viable love interest for the girl?"

"Perhaps. I answered one of your questions so can I get another question?"

"Sure. You just did, so we're back to three."

Damn. Roxas was good. Easy tricks weren't gonna work. She could tell by the smile on Roxas' face that he was amused with the given situation. She seriously considered what her three questions would be.

"What happened?"

Roxas laughed aloud. "Well, that's a vague question. Smart, I suppose. Let's see. My dad met my mom and as you know, when a man and a woman love each other, they—"

"Seriously!" Naminé exclaimed. She made a fist about to hit him but realized he was injured all over and decided otherwise.

Roxas laughed. "Alright, alright. Just don't hit me!" He cleared his throat. "Let me see. First, let's start with the fact that I'm a member of Organization XIII. It's a band of misfits for people who feel like they don't belong. So I guess that's why I joined. Well, another reason is because my friend Axel is in the band and he dragged me to one of their meetings. And before I knew it, I was a member."

"Huh." Naminé processed the information. She was tempted to ask a question about who this Axel was but he seemed quite irrelevant in the long run and decided to save the number of questions she had for something more pertinent.

"Some people may call us a gang but we really aren't. We just find expression in…ways that are at times frowned upon by society. I do graffiti. Axel likes fire—don't worry, he isn't an arsonist. He just likes watching things burn. Okay, that totally sounded like an arsonist but it's not like that. Trust me." Naminé giggled watching Roxas give an explanation for his friend's aberrant interest. She gestured for him to continue. "Yeah. So I was doing some graffiti work and those guys caught me. It's technically their property so they decided to beat me up for it. That's the story of what happened," Roxas said.

Naminé nodded. She decided on her second question. "What are you hiding from Sora?"

Roxas sighed heavily. "You sure know what questions to ask. Smarter than I thought." Naminé took that as a compliment. Roxas continued speaking. "First, you have to swear you won't tell Sora this."

"Of course," Naminé said.

Roxas drew a deep breath. " The Organization doesn't really get along well with the group of people Kairi hung out with. When I found out Sora was dating Kairi, I didn't want to cause them any trouble so I began to pull away from Sora. That's basically it. I don't want to tell Sora because he has a damn guilt complex and will blame himself for everything. I was hoping he'd just blame my behavior on the gang." Roxas sighed and then chuckled. "Yeah, even I call the Organization a gang. I really need a break from life."

Naminé nodded. She had one final question. She supposed she could get to know more about Sora and Kairi's situation but what did that matter? She wondered why Roxas was being so open and honest. Even after telling her he'd answer three of her questions, he could've refused to answer the hard one or come up with a lie—she'd never know. Naminé concluded Roxas was a decent guy. He was someone she wouldn't mind befriending.

"Why are you still with the Organization?" Naminé asked.

Roxas blinked. "You're not gonna ask anything else about Sora and Kairi?"

"No." Naminé shook her head. "I want to know why you're still with the Organization when you obviously don't want to."

"I obviously don't want to? Are you—" He laughed. "Man. Is it that obvious?"

Naminé shrugged. "Well, not really. I had a gut feeling. You just confirmed it."

Roxas laughed. "You're good. You manipulative little girl. Who would've known behind that sweet innocent exterior was the mind of a witch." He paused. "I meant that as a compliment," Roxas added awkwardly.

"I know." Naminé smiled. For some reason, she hadn't taken Roxas' words in a wrong way. Maybe because Roxas struck her as a very honest person with his sincere answers to her questions.

"Well, where to start?" Roxas sighed. "To be honest, I've wanted to quit for awhile. It's not that hard to quit, just this small fee and farewell ceremony, but I never have. It's mostly because of my friend Axel. He's stuck with the gang because he owes a lot of money to the superior. And he's my friend. I can't…I can't just leave him there like that. So I do what I gotta do—join meetings, paint graffiti, and remain a member. Even if I don't really like breaking the law. I mean, I used to, but the rush wore off eventually."

Roxas had never struck her as the sentimental type. He seemed like he always had his things together. So when he began rambling, Naminé didn't know what to do or say. "I have no idea what I'm doing with my life sometimes. I try to be a good friend to Axel and tell him to quit but he needs money and he's a college dropout. The Superior of the gang gives him small tasks every once in awhile and it's easy money. I tried giving him money before but he rejected it. Pride, or something stupid like that. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I hate lying to Sora and Kairi. I felt horrible when they broke up and I thought it was my fault. I didn't have anyone to talk to. I want to tell Axel sometimes but he's busy working off that debt. I can't tell my parents—they don't even know I'm with the Organization. Because of the Organization, I've blown off so many people—Sora, my parents, even Hayner and Pence and Olette. You know them, right? I used to hangout with them everyday in middle school. They were nice people. They still are. When Olette sees me in the halls, she manages a smile and friendly wave. Hayner still tries to invite me to the usual spot to hang out every once in awhile. Pence tried asking me what exactly went wrong. My life is a mess and what I really need—what I really need is—"

"You just need a break," Naminé said. She took his hand in hers. Naminé heard her mother in the back of her head composing her words for her. "You just need to get away from this all. Take a good look at what's important to you in your life and figure out what you should do." Naminé counted off a few dates in her head. "It's almost Christmas break. Go somewhere away from all of this—your parents, the Organization, Sora, and even Axel. You owe yourself at least this much, Roxas. You can't always be thinking of others—you need to consider yourself."

Roxas sighed. "I suppose." His voice was steadier now and the slight tremble in his hands was gone. "I suppose. Your mother's a psychologist, right?"

"Y—yeah." Naminé blinked. She wondered where that came from.

He chuckled. "Maybe I should enlist her services. You're pretty good at this thing too."

Naminé scoffed. "Sure. I mean, what's another Hikaru over at my house during weekend sessions?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'another Hikaru'?" Roxas asked.

Shit. Naminé just blurted out Xion's secret. Naminé knew through her mother that patient privacy was of utmost importance, especially to psychologists and their patients. It wasn't easy telling someone you had a psychological disorder. She thought Roxas knew. While she was searching her brain for the right words to say, Roxas spoke.

"Oh, do you mean Xion? She was talking about visiting a psychologist recently."

"Oh, so you know?" Naminé asked. She sighed in relief—at least she wasn't breaching patient confidentiality. Her mother would kill her if she found out. "Yeah. She and Sora come around every week."

"Wait, Sora goes?" Roxas asked.

Shit! Naminé sucked at this thing. Well, at least it wasn't that important. "Yeah. He said his parents are busy."

"I see…" Roxas said, trailing off. "So while Xion is having her sessions, do you and Sora hang out?"

"Yeah. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we just do homework in my room."

"In your room? That sounds scandalous to me…" Roxas said, a smirk on his face.

"Shut up! It's just doing homework."

"In your _room_."

"Roxas."

"Alright, got it," Roxas said, backing off from the teasing. He checked his watch. "Well, your three questions are way up and I gotta go. Care to help me up?"

"Yeah." Naminé rose to her feet and helped Roxas onto his. He hobbled a little and Naminé reached out to support him. "Are you sure you can get home?"

"Yeah. As I said, nothing I can't handle." Roxas took a few steps to prove he was fine. Naminé was still dubious but didn't say anything.

"Hey. Can I ask one last question?" Naminé asked. She knew she was pushing it but she had a questions dying to get off her chest.

Roxas chuckled. "As I said, your questions are way up. But I suppose. I really need to go though, so my answer's gonna be short."

"Okay. Why did you tell me all that?" Naminé asked.

Roxas blinked. He then laughed. "Well, let's see. You're Sora's friend, you seem somewhat trustworthy, and you're turning out to be way more interesting than I thought. Plus, I think you and Sora can help each other out. And it doesn't hurt that you're cute."

"W—wait, what?"

"That's it!" Roxas said in a cheery tone. "See you tomorrow, Naminé!" Roxas hobbled away quickly, given his injury, and crossed the road just in time so the stoplight turned red when Naminé reached. She saw him shoot her a cheeky grin from across the road and she returned it with a raspberry. Alright, she was being childish. But what else was she supposed to do?

She pondered Roxas' words. One in particular stuck out to her. _"I think you and Sora can help each other out."_ What exactly did Roxas mean by that?

* * *

**A/N:** Omg two months guys, much love to those who have stuck with me. The good news is that I'm going to college! The question now is where exactly I'm going—choosing between two decent public schools: Berkeley and University of Michigan. Any suggestions of the such? I should have a final decision at the end of this month.

Enough talk about me. The story's reached it's second half. I foresee this story to end in 20 chapters so we're finally getting there. Once college is decided on, I'll have more time to devote to this. I really want to finish it before college so this will be one of the few pieces I've completed in high school.

This chapter is admittedly a bit raw—it's unedited. But I owe it to you guys for the two-month wait. It's slightly longer too! Leave comments and reviews, especially if you find any mistakes. Thank you so much for all the continued support, especially my reviewers!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter TWELVE**

After the incident with Roxas, Naminé dragged her feet home. The entire way back, her mind was consumed with thoughts regarding the exchange with Roxas. He had revealed a lot and she was still carefully processing all the information, determined not to let anything slip her mind.

The walk back home took awhile. She'd followed Sora and Hayner halfway across town. Once she got back to the café she had been staying at, she still had another walk in lieu of the bus ride she usually took. By the time she arrived at the foot of her house, she was both mentally and physically exhausted. She would've asked her mom to pick her up but she knew Monday nights were busy for her.

Naminé walked up the front porch and unlocked the front door. She entered the house and heard soft murmurs inside – a conversation was taking place. Dimly, she wondered what her mother and brother could be talking about as she went to the kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of water. Downing the entire cup in one gulp, she sighed satisfactorily. She then walked towards the living room to see what was up.

"Hey, Terra, what are you guys – "

She froze, her eyes locked on the sight before her. A person who'd never been in her house since two years ago had finally set foot. Naminé could sense her automatic defenses rising, wielding herself with her rapier wit and caustic remarks.

Kairi was too close to home, quite literally.

"Naminé." Kairi rose to her feet upon seeing Naminé. Terra, who was seated on a couch adjacent to the sofa she was on, stood up as well. Naminé regarded them cautiously, trying to figure out the situation. Both of them seemed rather uncomfortable.

"Naminé," Terra began, "Kairi came…to visit. She got here about five minutes ago."

"Great," Naminé said, but the word lost its connotation on her tongue. It was spoken not with bitterness but instead with complete apathy – the word was just a verbal response to show she'd heard what her brother had said.

"Naminé," Kairi began nervously but trailed off. The redhead did not know what to say. Drawing a breath, she turned to face Terra. "Thank you for seeing me today," she said, directing her words at him instead.

"No problem," Terra said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm, uhh, glad you came."

Sure he was, Naminé thought. Even a stranger could tell Terra was awkward all the way through. His hands were fidgeting with the ends of his sleeve and he kept running a hand through his hair. His speech was littered with meaningless interjectives and his eyes were darting around the room, unable to find a place to rest them on safely. Naminé knew her brother well enough to observe the little ticks he had and her conclusion was that he was _not_ glad Kairi came.

"So, am I forgiven?" Kairi asked, her voice barely keeping out her eagerness. Naminé blinked. Was she talking about – ?

"Uhh, yeah." Terra chuckled. "I mean, it's not completely your fault. We both made some pretty stupid mistakes. And, uhh," he shrugged, "maybe it just wasn't meant to be."

"Wait," Naminé said, interrupting their conversation. "Are we talking about _that_?"

"Naminé," Kairi began, and Naminé already disliked the condescension she sensed in the redhead's tone, "you can just say the time I ruined your brother's engagement."

Naminé flinched. There was an obvious reason why she didn't call that incident as it was. It brought back bitter memories she'd rather let remain suppressed in the back of her mind. She glared at Kairi, viewing her as the offender who had disrupted her family's peace.

"Alright," she said in a clipped tone, "the time you _destroyed_ my brother's imminent marital happiness."

Kairi chuckled nervously. "That's a bit extreme, isn't it?"

Naminé shrugged. That depended on whose vantage point you were looking from. The blonde turned towards her brother. "Did she come just to ask for forgiveness for all that she'd done?"

Terra chose his words carefully. "Well, uhh, she came to redeem herself, as she said. She's really sorry about the entire thing and embarrassed, too. I'm just happy to put that all behind me. That was, what, two years ago?"

"So you've forgiven her?" Naminé pressed.

Terra blinked, a bit put-off by the distress present in Naminé's tone. "Uhh, yeah," he said. "Why not? I think we should leave the past behind us."

Naminé stared in appall. That was it? Her brother's imminent marriage that had been singlehandedly destroyed by a teenage girl's childish whim was dismissed just like that? Even if her brother was willing to let it go, Naminé wasn't as forgiving.

She turned towards Kairi. "Do you know what you did?"

Kairi stared back somberly. "Yes."

"What did you do?" Naminé would get to the bottom of this today.

Kairi hesitated for a moment and swallowed visibly. She then summoned her voice to speak. "I got in the middle of your brother and his fiancée. I…_destroyed_ their relationship."

"At least you know," Naminé couldn't help muttering.

"You know what?" Kairi said. "I'm not here to embarrass myself in front of you, Naminé. I'm here to ask for forgiveness from your brother. I know you aren't gonna forgive me anytime soon, so I've given up on that. I've done my part and now I'm gonna leave."

"Wait!" Naminé exclaimed. To her credit, Kairi stopped in her tracks and looked back. "You can't just…leave like that! Do you _know_ what you did? You can say you're sorry and my brother can tell you he's forgiven you, but words are only words. Do you honestly understand what you've done?"

"Do you seriously think I _don't_ know what I've done?" Kairi said. "Really. I'm not some bad guy determined to make your life a living hell. Stop painting me as the villain. I'm not. I'm not a stock Queen Bee taken out of a shallow chick flick. Believe it or not, I'm genuinely regretful of my mistakes. I was young and stupid. I got caught up with the wrong crowd and did some things I'll never understand why. But I've grown up. I've matured and I'm putting it past me. All I can say is that I'm glad your brother's willing to do the same."

Naminé narrowed her eyes. "It's not fair," was all she could say. "It's not fair you can get off so easily, just with a simple word of apology, while my brother had to suffer so much."

"Do you think I didn't suffer? Do you really think I don't have a conscience? After what happened, I was tormented for months about what I'd done. I'd _destroyed_ a marriage, Naminé. In your words! I'm a homewrecker! I'm everything I promised myself I would never become. I was so _ashamed_ of myself."

"Why?" Naminé asked. "Why…did you do it? You said it was on a whim…but it couldn't be."

Kairi bristled uncomfortably. "It was. Sort of." She paused and drew a deep breath. Naminé's eyes remained scrutinized on the redhead. "I mean," Kairi continued, "you'll be even more enraged when you hear about it."

"Actually, you don't. Terra does." Kairi turned towards him. He'd remained quiet for most of the two girls' conversation, observing the dynamics and letting them play themselves out. "Do you want to know?"

Terra blinked, suddenly aware that the attention was on him. "Uhh…sure, I guess?"

Kairi sighed. "Do you remember the cheerleaders? I joined them in freshman year. They had a ridiculous rite of passage that was something along the lines of seducing a senior. And I wanted to be accepted by them so bad. They were the girls the entire school looked up to, and I inevitably did too." Naminé couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was almost worse than Kairi saying it'd been just a whim. "So I picked your brother. He was a senior and I at least knew him. I…I just wanted in."

"…are you kidding me?" Naminé hissed. "You basically _used_ my brother to gain entry into that exclusive group of yours? You destroyed a person's happiness just for your own chance at being popular?"

"I said you wouldn't want to hear it."

"I can't believe it! How could anyone be…be so shallow?"

"To this day, I still don't know."

"How – how can you be so _calm?_"

Naminé took a moment to compose herself after yelling that last sentence. She was heaving deep breaths and probably crouching forward in a very unsightly position. Her hair was unkempt from continuously running a hand through it. She was pretty sure she was about to break a light sweat. In contrast, Kairi was calm, cool, and collected personified. At most was a delicate raise of her brow.

"I'm accepting the situation. Obviously, you aren't." Kairi sighed. "To be honest, Naminé, I'm a bit fed up with you constantly condemning me. I don't know what I can do to make it up to you. You just keep on bringing up the time I screwed things over. What's done is done, and I can't undo my mistakes. I've tried asking for forgiveness but you won't give me. Terra has forgiven me. Now, I think the question is what it will take for you to forgive me."

That was a pretty good question. It had Naminé reeling on her feet. She had no idea how to answer. To be honest, she didn't want to forgive Kairi. She had gotten used to hating Kairi. It was just something she considered normal now, that pit of disgust that collected in her stomach upon the sight of Kairi Flannigan and her picture perfect life. In all honesty, she'd probably painted Kairi as more or less a villain in her life. It was so much easier than admitting that Kairi had changed and Naminé wasn't willing to change as well.

"I…I don't know," Naminé whispered.

"Well, you better get your act together and figure it out. I'm leaving this place in a few months and I don't want to leave behind any regrets. I'm sure you don't want to either." She turned back towards Terra. "I'm sorry for imposing. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Oh, yeah," Terra said. "No problem." He walked her to the door and sent her off out into the dark night. Naminé was still standing still, frozen in the living room, when Terra came back.

"So, uhh, you wanna talk?" terra asked.

Naminé sighed and fell to her seat. She could feel a deluge of words rising to her mouth. "I just – I can't – I don't understand! I don't want to – I mean, she's at wrong, right?" Naminé sought her brother's eyes for confirmation. "She was wrong?"

Terra ran a hand through his hair. "Uhh, yeah? I mean, I was wrong for accepting her advances too."

"You're just defending her."

"No I'm not," Terra said seriously. "Naminé, she may have…_seduced_ me when she was a freshman, but I was stupider for reciprocating when I was about to get married to possibly the love of my life. And I suppose I'll never know. But things might have worked out for the better." Terra shrugged. "If I'd married Aqua then, I probably would've followed Aqua and gone to college somewhere near her university. I would've never met the people I know at uni now. It's just one of those things that you keep on thinking 'what if' and you realize one day that there's no point in thinking so when you have a life to live."

Naminé was confused. "So you're glad you didn't marry Aqua?"

Terra shrugged. "I guess in hindsight, my answer is yes. I was in high school, for goodness sake. I'd only dated a handful of girls. How was I supposed to know Aqua was the one? Maybe Kairi was a sign that the marriage was a bad idea. If we were really in love, I wouldn't have gone for Kairi."

"But she just…put herself there! I don't…I can't – agh!" Naminé exclaimed. She was frustrated with herself. Terra and Kairi had obviously worked things out – why couldn't she come to terms with it?

Because deep down inside, she knew what was wrong with her. She didn't want to accept the fact that she was _wrong_. She shouldn't have hated Kairi all these years. Alright, a bit of resentment in the beginning was completely called for since what Kairi had done was pretty low. But Kairi had changed. She'd accepted her mistakes and was willing to make amends with the people she'd hurt. Naminé had just been stuck in her little world believing Kairi was the big bad that had to be eliminated. Kairi had matured – obviously Naminé hadn't.

And it just _sucked_ how Naminé reached this conclusion. She didn't want to accept the fact that she was, in layman's terms, _wrong_. She was stubborn and hated being proven otherwise. This one single fact of her high school life was going to be removed. And she didn't like it.

"Naminé?" Terra asked worriedly. Naminé looked up from her thoughts and rested her eyes on her brother. Maybe he'd changed too. Maybe he saw past things and grew up while he was in college. Then was Naminé the one at fault here?

"I…I'll be in my room," she managed weakly. She retreated into her little sanctuary, her haven of peace. She needed some quiet to actually _think_.

Once she entered her room, she was already exhausted. She lied on her bed and attempted to clear her mind. Too many things cluttered her thoughts that it was impossible to even think properly about this convoluted subject. She felt her eyelids growing heavy and eventually succumbed to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh my. It's been too long again. And such a horribly short chapter...I know you're probably disappointed. I won't bother you with the specifics but the good news is, I've graduated from high school! I'm officially off to the Berkeley for fall 2013. Go Bears! :)

Thank you all for your reviews and patience (not like you had a choice, ha). I'll hopefully get around to replying to the reviews soon. The second good news is I'm on summer vacation now so I should have more time to write & update. My goal is to get the next chapter out ASAP.

And the last piece of good news: it's my birthday! :)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


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